When Fate Smiles At Destiny
by Amehana sono hanyou
Summary: (Back From Deletion!:)Now that the Shikon Jewel has been completed, the issue of how to destroy it is once again at hand. But the tide is always turning. What if, this time around, the circumstances were entirely different…IK MS SR. R&R!
1. Main Author's Note

Main Author's Note:

(I'm sorry for confusing you and putting all this stuff on this page, but I think it looks sloppy with all this info on the chapters, NOT trying to insult anyone, I'm just odd like that. You'll discover how strange I am soon enough.

**Summary:** A story unlike any other on this idea: after the battle with Naraku, something must be done with the Shikon No Tama. Inuyasha is (sort of) willing turn into a full human (for a certain girl from the future who has captured his heart) but what would happen Kagome had to take the fate of the jewel upon herself? R&R onegai!

**Genre:** Romance, Inu/Kag, San/Mir, & Sessh/Rin

**Sub genre:** Drama

**Rating:** PG-13 for L,AS,N,V, & OTHER THINGS later on blush (and don't worry I'll warn you before they show up)

**Setting:** After the end of the series, whoo hoo! Anyway, Shippo is older, and I boosted Rin's age too… hey, I've seen pictures of both of them when they're older. I have a rather cute image of teenage Rin and Sesshy, she looks about nineteen and he looks like he's gonna kiss her giggle.

**Caution:** Endless amounts of fluff!

**Warning:** anti-Kikyo, pro-Kagome.

I would like to say I suck at naming sweat drop, so forgive me when I name new characters.

I'm sorry if you think this is OOC, but I don't! This is one of my crazy fantasies and I think it could really happen this way. I _hope_ it will end something like this!

I'm basing the personalities on the Japanese version. If you fell in love with the English version like I did, watch it in the original dialect; it's 100 times better! But don't worry, it'll make perfect sense & be just as good to those who like the English too.

Let me explain something; I love antonyms (that is what they're called, right?) you know when you replace some character's name with a title. Don't get confuseld when I call Inuyasha-kun a "demon", he isn't full demon at the time but I just called him that so…yeah.

**What Makes Me Sad: **This fic was running until chapter 19 whenan awful twist of the knifesomehow got it deleted from the Fanfiction archives! I had lots of good reveiws and now they are all lost...cry...I also lost my lovely summary and now, with the new character limitations on the summary block, my new one does no justice to my fic, which only means that you will have to read it to find the truth! I am praying that all my readers will soon discover that I have fixed the story and added a new chapter. I promise from now on to keep a closer eye on my fanfics so that they are not deleted!

**Key:** (I'd like to thank Lilfoxgirl for this key thing, it's a good idea!)

"the character is speaking"

'the character is thinking'

Time and/or scene change

Translation

Just in case you don't know… 

"i"s are pronounced like "ee" as in cheat

"a"s are pronounced like "ah" as in afternoon

"e"s are pronounced like "i" as in egg

"u"s are pronounced like "oo" as in moon

"o"s are pronounced like "oh" as in old

"ai"s are pronounced like "I" as in hi

"ie"s are pronounced like "eh" as in hey

Ls and Rs are pronounced like something between L & R…its weird but that's what it sounds like.

I think.

So, without further ado…


	2. Fallen

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha® it belongs the Goddess Rumiko Takahashi

Chp. I– Fallen

_Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you, you are my only one, there's just no one like you, my only one…_ –Only One, Yellowcard

(A/N: actually the whole song portrays to this chapter, I just didn't want to type it all out, listen to it if you've got it)

Kagome's eyes suddenly shot open, yanking her out of an already uneasy sleep. She sat upright in flash, sending her sleeping bag falling to her waist, which fortunately didn't wake Shippo.

The kit had really never broken his habit of sleeping next to her, but since he was no longer as tiny as he used to be he slept at her side, not in her sleeping bag (that wouldn't be right considering he was older now, according to him).

And as if they were under a spell Inuyasha, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Miroku all remained sleeping.

On the contrary, the young miko priestess was fully awake and rigid as she clutched her pounding heart, gasping for breath. Cold sweat clung to her skin. Her body wouldn't stop from trembling, her mouth and lungs wanted more than anything to scream in terror as loud as they could possibly go. She had never been more unnerved in her life.

But no time to be scared now, Kagome pushed away her fear and buried it deep within her mind. By standing while taking many full breaths, she forced her shaky body calm. Then she clenched her fists and headed out into the dark night.

She wasn't the only one that noticed, or not the only _thing_ anyway. Small forest creatures were running about as if they were mad, the birds were screeching in an eerie high-pitched tune, and in the middle of night!

But…all through their ruckus, the dark was still and melancholy in the way the wind blew and the trees and the way the air was humid but cold at the same time…

As if the world was crying…odd…

**Not** right! Even an average person could've seen that something was most defiantly **wrong **here! And Kagome Higurashi was far from the average person.

She just happened to be a miko; a priestess born with the gift of purifying demons with ordinary wooden arrows or chi straight from her body, in order to defeat them.

After falling through Bone Eaters Well approximately three years from this night, she had somewhat learned how to control and hoist her powers. She may just be the most powerful miko that ever lived, although unknown to herself.

No time for that now, no time to regret not training her powers enough. She was silently thanking Kaede-bachan for giving her the training she _did_ have, for she was going to need it.

Finally, Kagome reached her destination, a jutting cliff on the side of the forest– perfect.

The night air combined with her swift walking had dried the water seeping from her skin, her breath was calm as she made her way to the point of the cliff and closed her eyes.

Kagome placed her hands together as she had been taught: lacing her fingers together, crossing her thumbs over one another at the back of her palm-together hands then paralleling her index fingers.

Then holding her hands firm in front of her chest she concentrated, stretching out her senses to their limits, searching all around her and further for any disturbance, any rise in an aura, any thing unnatural…

'There!' her eyes shot open only to narrow a little in anger, it was just as she had feared: Naraku had completed the Shikon No Tama Jewel of the Four Souls .

It was only a few days earlier that Kagura, along with many other of Naraku's progeny that so he often used to carry out his dirty work, had attacked Kagome and her team of companions.

Although our dear protagonists had come out the victors, Kagura had gotten away with the last of Kagome's Jewel Shards. After that, it was only a matter of time.

So it had happened. Naraku had taken Kouga's jewel shards, the last of the stray pieces in the world were now in the worst possible hands that they could be in. In other words, Naraku had completed the Shikon No Tama.

No time to worry about that now, no time to fret and no time to hope that Kouga had gotten out of the last battle for the jewel shards alive.

Kagome spun from her current spot and headed back into the forest. The cliff had provided a good outlook to search for the threat that had so forcefully pulled her from her sleep, but now she had a new task.

Naraku had the Jewel, and the huge power surges that Kagome kept feeling even as she walked must be Naraku preparing the Shikon in order to use it.

That meant more killing, more betrayal, more tricking. For that was the way to taint the jewel, and the more evil it became, the more powerful it was.

And Naraku would do anything, put forth any means necessary, to drench the Shikon No Tama in blood and hate until it was at full power, then he could use it.

Naraku would use it to become a full demon, and half-demons weren't supposed to become full demons, for hanyou bodies couldn't contain the power of youkai demon blood. Take Inuyasha for example; when his demon blood took over his body and transformed him into a full youkai, he would go on a rampage until his thirst for blood was quenched, and his body was destroyed, no matter whom he killed in the process.

Kagome was the only one who had the power to pull him out of that state, either by "sit"-ing him or…just by merely calling out his name in fear; screaming for him to stop. Somehow her voice could reach his soul and tame his demon blood once more.

The next thought that ran through Kagome's head was more of a harsh statement then a question, as she continued to walk deeper into the forest: 'Inuyasha…when this is all over, you're going to leave me…aren't you?'

She violently shook her head to clear it away. 'No I can't think like that, I have no claim on him…I _can't_ have anything for him, and I can't postpone the end either…even if I want to…' her mind finished weakly.

Kagome then snapped her head up, determination flashing in her hazel eyes, "I've got to go get the others!"

The miko steered herself in the direction of the camp and was about to break in a run, for she had gone a good deal off to confirm her senses, when she stopped frozen in her tracks.

Her skin pricked in goose bumps for a moment, the forest silenced in an eerie quiet, then she sensed an aura behind her.

She whirled around on her heels to find her feelings cruelly confirmed. "Kikyo!"

Kikyo smiled wickedly, perhaps that was the _only_ way she knew how to smile, "Hello my incarnate, its too late for a little girl like yourself to be wandering out in the forest like this…you could get hurt…" her voice dripping with mock sympathy.

Kagome clenched her fists. "I'm not a 'little girl', Kikyo, as you so simply put it, and what do you want!?"

"Ah, yes, I see you felt Naraku's rise in power, _very_ good…"

"That's right Kikyo, now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell the others that Naraku is going to transform so we can stop him, and defeat him…which Inuyasha is doing for _you_ I might add."

The undead priestess walked up to the firm standing girl. "You're very bitter about that, aren't you?" she said with a slight sneer.

Kagome swallowed and clenched her fists tighter, though she couldn't stop her eyes from narrowing into slits.

Kikyo noticed her anger "Let me tell you something, little girl, Inuyasha doesn't love you, he never did, you're only my replacement, I hope you understand that."

If Kagome was a demon about now, she would've growled, but alas she could not do so. "Let me go Kikyo, we have to stop Naraku."

Kikyo backed up and causally strolled over to a tree, Kagome didn't notice before, but the dead priestess had her bow and arrows with her. She gracefully slipped the quiver over her shoulder and knocked and arrow on her bow. "I think not…I can't have you messing up our plans, now can I?"

Kagome at once realized Kikyo meant to do some great harm to her, and she had left her own bow and quiver back at the camp– stupid mistake.

Nothing to do about that now, she could try to blast Kikyo with her miko energy, but no doubt Kikyo could top that, being the one more accustomed to fighting with her powers.

The girl stood firm even as Kikyo took aim, no fear showed on her eyes, for no fear was in her to show. "Listen Kikyo, there's no need to kill me now, if you really feel it necessary go ahead and do it _after_ the battle with Naraku, I don't care, I'm going to lose my best friend anyway…" Her voice trailed off for a second only to be found again.

"But not until that. My friends need me to help with the fight, and I'm the only one who can sense the jewel shards…so let me go, I won't 'ruin your plans' to take Inuyasha to hell, I can't stop him from that" 'no matter how much I want to' she added silently.

Kikyo's face cracked into yet another evil smile. "I do believe you're sadly mistaken…not Inuyasha and my plans…but mine and Naraku's…"

Kagome gasped lightly and her eyes widened. "Na-nani? What do you mean?!"

The undead priestess just laughed a pulled her bowstring taught making the wooden bow creak under the tightness. "Now just hold still for me, I want you to die slowly, so first I'm going to stun you, then blast you until you bleed to death, sounds fun doesn't it?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes.

"And don't worry, you won't live tell your little friends about Naraku getting the Jewel together…they'll all be dead soon too…well, all except Inuyasha, he'll never die, just burn in hell for eternity."

Kikyo pulled back on her bowstring and released her arrow.

(A/N: oh the suspense, eh?)

A high-pitched scream retched with pain pierced through the night, sending the five sleeping ones to jump up and assemble on the ground.

Inuyasha was the first to react. "That's Kagome's voice!"

In a flash the hanyou sped off into the direction from whence the scream had come, leaving his friends close behind, unable to stop the irrational demon from charging head first into a raging battle, but, that was Inuyasha for you.

It was dark, but that didn't stop Inuyasha from easily tracking Kagome. Following her scent Inuyasha stopped to find himself in a clearing, only to stop dead, and to have his heart skip a beat, then to have his entire world plunge into drowning horror.

The rest of the team caught up with him to have just about the same reaction to the scene ahead, they did not enter the clearing as Inuyasha had, but they could still see inside perfectly through its surrounding trees:

There was Kagome, gracefully sprawled out the ground, burn marks covering her body. The dirt around her was soaked with her still running blood.

Inuyasha couldn't hear her heartbeat, he couldn't catch any life from her scent, she wasn't moving in the slightest…

Her face wasn't one of pain as a person would expect, but her eyes were simply closed –she had died fearlessly– and that was Kagome for you.

"Why hello, Inuyasha" came a voice to the left of the addressed one.

The hanyou half demon was so wrapped up in Kagome's still form he didn't even notice the third presence in the clearing. "Kikyo" he breathed as his eyes widened in shock.

Kikyo half-smirked, half-smiled as Inuyasha noticed the blood covered purity arrow embedded in the trunk of the tree behind Kagome's lifeless body.

Streaks of crimson were stained on the bark, the arrow was in a position slightly to the left of where the blood was heaviest…as if…as if it had been shot in Kagome's chest, just where he had been shot the same way, more that fifty years ago.

But this spell was different, it was still a binding spell, but Kagome had been conscious through the whole thing…and she had only cried out when her limp body had fallen from its crucifix and hit the ground, and that's what finally killed her.

A purity arrow…and burn marks…from chi life energy …only two people they knew were holders of powers such as that…(and it was utterly pointless to suspect that Kagome had attacked herself).

Then they noticed the flickering red light slowly disappearing from Kikyo's palms, and triumphant smile on her face.

"K-Kikyo…" was yet again the only word Inuyasha could muster

The undead miko's smile stayed " Yes, I killed her, this girl will no longer be a problem to us, Inuyasha. …You know… it was pathetic, she said it would be all right if I killed her after the battle with Naraku but not before because she needed to fight"

Kikyo laughed. "She said something about not wanting to live anymore because her best friend was leaving her…I suspect that's you, Inuyasha… she was only staying alive to be used as a tool to finish Naraku, how very sad."

Inuyasha stood frozen in his spot, his eyes unreadable but thousands of thoughts screaming through is head.

Sango was the first to break from the shock-driven trance that had swept over the team at the realization of their teammate's horrendous end.

The slayer readied her Hiraikotsu Bone Boomerang . "Bitch! You will pay for what you did to Kagome-chan!"

She started to charge when a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

The huntress struggled against her holder. Let me go houshi-sama!" houshi is a lower class of monk, and the name people sometimes call Miroku .

Miroku held Sango tight against his chest. "Iie, Sango, Inuyasha must deal with this on his own" the monk said calmly while holding her tighter.

Sango looked slightly back to the clearing ahead, her brown eyes filled with pain. "But…she…Kagome-chan" were the only words she could muster as the reality hit her.

The slayer suddenly dropped her weapon and buried her face in Miroku's chest, crying over the loss of the girl who was the sister she never had.

The monk held her as she eloquently cried without touching her for once; it was very rare for Sango to cry anyway.

Shippo was staring at the clearing ahead too, but seemed beyond words, just stood there, not pain in his blue eyes but pure disbelief.

Miroku's own sapphire eyes were dark as he held Sango, then looked back to the silent hanyou and priestess standing in the clearing ahead. 'And how will you handle this one, Inuyasha?'

The contemplated hanyou's amber eyes were unreadable as he spoke. "I don't understand, Kikyo…naze why ? …why would you do this !?"

"She was in the way" she spoke as if she had just tripped someone instead of torturing them to death.

A tsunami of emotions swept over Inuyasha as his eyes widened, then he unconsciously looked down, and his sliver bangs blocked his eyes from view. 'Kagome…she's gone…forever…and it's all my fault…why didn't I stop this, I should've seen this coming…I'm sorry Kagome, I failed to protect you…'

'But your death will not go un-avenged'

Anger overpowered shame when he snapped his head up to the woman who stood in front of him. "She never did anything to you, Kikyo!"

Kikyo's face shifted to one of disgust. "Except try to steal you away from me"

Inuyasha clenched his fists "She never did _anything_ to _anyone_…she had no right to die…she was unarmed …I can't believe you would do something like this…this is despicable…"

The inu-oni slowly bared his fangs and growled deeply while looking straight into Kikyo's cold eyes. "It's unforgivable"

The deceased miko smiled evilly. "And what will you do about it, kill me?"

In reply Inuyasha flexed his claws. "Iie, I can't do that, I should, but I won't waste my time with you…"

"Oh really? _Very_ interesting…"

"Leave here Kikyo, I never want to see you again…and don't expect me to go to hell with you, I owed you my life, but you've taken Kagome's and I can't let something like that just go…"

Kikyo glared. "Does that girl mean more to you than me!? I was doing us a favor by killing her, now we can be together without her interference."

Inuyasha looked down once more. "Don't ever refer to Kagome as 'interference', Kikyo"

He unclenched his fists only to clench them again, harder this time in order to control his hatred, Kagome wouldn't have wanted him to hate… he slowly looked at Kikyo through his bangs "Leave here, now…and don't ever come back" (A/N: what have I done, has L.O.T.R. really affected me that much? …yes, yes it has)

"Hmph, very funny Inuyasha, may I remind you that your life is mine."

"Not anymore…" he growled

The undead priestess looked away. "Very well, we'll see, but I _will_ see you again my Inuyasha" and with that Kikyo's white soul-stealing demons, with their long bodies circled around her until her image finally faded into nothing.

The mood suddenly shifted as Miroku, Sango, and Shippo ran into the clearing to meet the hanyou who was staring blankly at the spot from where Kikyo had just left.

Shippo was the first to speak, well, more like scream "I can't believe you're letting that bitch get away, Inuyasha, if you don't do something to her I _will_" the kit said bravely.

Sango glared. "Hai yes , Inuyasha, Kagome-chan suffix for friend or special affection put up with your two-timing for far too long and now she's gone because of it…and now you're going to let her killer get away…I thought you cared about her, you're the one who's despicable"

The slayer stood firm as she spoke her harsh yet seriously candid words. Inuyasha was her friend, but they _all_ got tired of the way he kept playing Kagome and the way she always so graciously forgave him– she didn't regret saying that at all, for she had no reason to be sorry.

Miroku put a claming hand on Sango's shoulder, even though he agreed with her. "Inuyasha, you aren't going to kill Kikyo-sama because you believe you don't deserve to take vengeance on Kagome-sama's death because that would please you, sō right ?"

Inuyasha looked down in shame, he silently agreed with what all of them were saying and knew he deserved the verbal thrashing he was receiving. He nodded once without saying anything.

"I see…" said the monk

"That's stupid!" Shippo cried before he could stop himself, then quickly cringed and awaited the hanyou's wrath.

But it never came; instead Inuyasha looked up but didn't meet anyone's eyes. A very weak smile crossed him. "I don't deserve to get revenge for Kagome, because I'm the one who killed her…I could've stopped Kikyo the first time she hurt Kagome, but I didn't. I just couldn't…because I loved Kikyo once…and she looks exactly the same…"

"That's just might be the most shallow thing I've ever heard!" Sango yelled, then crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"Loved her '_once_'?" Miroku asked suspiciously

Inuyasha just nodded and continued. "It's my fault Kagome died…" he smiled weakly "I don't deserve to take my revenge because I treated Kagome so badly…"

Sango blinked, her anger melted at his words. She uncrossed her arms and turned back to her friends.

The inu-oni dog demon looked down "If any of you would like to go and kill Kikyo then please do so, but I can't; I don't deserve to take vengeance on Kagome's death…I don't even deserve to live for that matter, so if you'd like to kill me that's fine too– I don't know which is best: for me to die or for me to live forever with guilt…I guess that's for you guys to decide…"

Sango almost rolled her eyes, but instead her face softened in understanding, she went over to Inuyasha and placed her hands on his shoulders, when she did so he looked up and locked eyes with the slayer. "No one is going to do any thing to you, you fool, and we're not going to abandon you either. You were confused, we understand that now, and I don't blame you. Naraku has deceived all of us with his evil tricks– and none of us will fall for them and give him what he wants".

She turned slightly to address the others as well "right?"

Miroku promptly nodded while Shippo cried "Hai!"

Sango smiled then clenched her fists. "Now– we have to find a way to get Kagome-chan back"

They all stared at her.

"Sango" Miroku whispered, wondering why she would even suggest such an impossible task, she wasn't trying to make Inuyasha's guilt worse, was she?

"I'm serious!" she spun back to Inuyasha "We can ask the jewel to give her life back, can't we?"

Miroku smiled and (in utmost spontaneity) hugged Sango, who blushed. "Why, lovely Sango, I do believe you're on to something!"

Inuyasha smiled a little too, then stopped as determination flashed in his eyes "Or, there's Tenseiga"

Eyes gaped. "You would ask Sesshoumaru to use his sword?" Miroku said in calm surprise.

"Who said anything about asking?!" Inuyasha spat.

His three friends sweat dropped, "So you mean to fight him" Sango said weakly.

The inu-oni stubbornly crossed his arms and looked away "of course!" Then he slowly looked down "But if I have to beg Sesshoumaru to get Kagome back, then I will"

Sango leaned over to Miroku and whispered. "_You_ didn't say 'beg' did you?" the monk shook his head while still staring wide eyed at the hanyou.

Inuyasha looked up "What are you staring at?!"

They smiled. Shippo answered "Just a demon who's had a change for the better…"

The hanyou actually smiled weakly.

An awkward silence fell over the team…they weren't positive if they could bring their friend back…and even if they could…would it be right? It was said the dead was supposed to stay dead.

So preoccupied in their doubts were they that they all failed to notice the slight change in the aura balance around them…a bright blue light flashed then flickered away underneath Kagome's palm-down hands.

None of them even saw it…but a certain hanyou heard the immensely tiny shift of the young miko's hand and as quick as a flash of lightning he was at her side.

The others quickly came to the conclusion that Inuyasha was insane as he gently wrapped his arms around Kagome's body and picked her somewhat off the cold ground to cradle her against his chest. "Kagome…" he whispered.

Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippo were about to ask Inuyasha what had driven his sudden action when they heard Kagome scream in pain.

Even that sound was music to their ears, and they quickly ran over to stand close behind the hanyou to see a fully awake but barely hanging onto life Kagome. She was alive, but in _very_ bad shape. Her new breath would be quickly stolen if they didn't get her treated … and fast!

Kagome clenched her teeth and tried to push herself up, Inuyasha quietly shushed her "Don't move just yet, Kagome, it's going to be okay, I swear it"

"Inuyasha" Kagome whispered as she gasped for breath. Slowly she opened her eyes and smiled as brightly as she could at the hanyou.

He bent down close to her. "I'm here, Kagome, I'll always be here"

"Good" Kagome whispered, then her eyes shut and her head dropped softly on to Inuyasha's chest.

Owari Chapter Ichi The end of chapter one 

Amehana: I know, I know, evil cliffhanger, but this chapter was just getting so long, I had to stop it! Believe me, you do NOT want to read the whole thing in one sitting; it'd kill you.

This chappie had some Mir/San fluff & I can't wait to write some more, and I really can't wait to write some Inu/Kag fluff too! very girlish giggle I love fluff!

Also, I put a lot of translations on this chapter, but don't worry I'm only doing it the first time a word shows up. I know it's annoying.

I know a lot of you think I made Kikyo too mean but check this. In the anime she is almost pitiable but in the original manga she is horrible. It's weird, but it's true. And to be perfectly honest I went with the manga because I really don't like her…at all.

sigh I know it was really rash for the first chapter but I had to do it because otherwise the beginning would be boring…just a lot building up to this, so I decided to skip all that because I certainly wouldn't want to put you to sleep. Stuff calms down, this is just a very late episode in the series. Not that I could match Rumiko, kuso.

This is only my first chapter & I hope you liked, it going to get much better, I swear! & I have one simple request: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEEEEED REVEIWS!!!!!!!


	3. A Doubting Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha®…but suckers are yummy!

Inuyasha: sweat drop huh?

Amehana: randomness rocks! licks sucker Dustin gave her

Inuyasha: yeah…

Amehana: Lets gooooooooooooooooo! Horn of Gondor sounds

Chapter II– A Doubting Heart

"No, Kagome, don't close your eyes, stay with me…please." Inuyasha begged, fear seizing him, when he saw her head weakly drop onto him as it just had.

The miko forced her eyes back open, she was finding it hard to breath. "Inuyasha, there's something I need to tell you…"

"Shh, don't talk, just stay awake" he whispered softly

"But…it's important…and…and I don't think I have much time to tell you." (A/N: erlack, that was WAY too corny :p) Something cold and unforgiving was creeping up on her. She could feel it.

"Listen to me Kagome, you baka idiot/stupid/fool , you're not going anywhere, do you understand?!" It came out a little harsher than Inuyasha intended.

The girl in his arms would've looked around providing she had the strength, but all she could was allow Inuyasha to support her limp body. She didn't meet his eyes as she spoke,

"Where's Kikyo?" she whispered rhetorically (rhetorical to herself that is).

Inuyasha sighed, and something flickered through his eyes. "She's gone, Kagome". Why was that so hard to say?

The miko still couldn't bring herself to look at him, but Inuyasha could clearly see her eyes as they lowered in the pain that is worse than those that yield blood. "Oh"

The hanyou knew exactly why she looked so sad and spoke so little; Kagome wouldn't ever wish for Kikyo's death…or at least she wouldn't say so, but she thought that Inuyasha didn't care if Kikyo killed her…

Without a word Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath without transforming it, just keeping the sword in its thin and rusty original.

"Stay still, Kagome." Inuyasha said softly, but his eye's hardened.

Kagome watched while Inuyasha gently rested her body against him, easily supporting her with his knee and spare arm. She knew he would never draw his sword on her; she trusted him…she had to wonder, what the heck was he doing?

Her eyes then widened in horror as the inu-oni drew a long slit down his wrist with Tetsusaiga. "Inuyasha!" she yelled as he cupped his hand and watched with stoic features, waiting for his palm to fill with his own blood.

Without a word Inuyasha covered Kagome's wounds with the liquid, and the young miko could feel herself healing just as the his blood, equipped with healing capabilities, mixed with her own. Then Inuyasha turned his wrist upward to subdue the crimson waterfall.

Gently as ever he laid Kagome on the ground, and quickly striped to his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her thin body in a makeshift bandage around her chest where her wounds were worst. Slipping his haori shirt worn over kimono back on he picked Kagome back up in his arms and stood.

Kagome looked up at him with wide eyes. "Inuyasha…why did do that?" Her awe suddenly turned to angered concern. "You could die if you too much blood!"

The hanyou looked away stubbornly, as he felt skin slowly stretching over his self-mutilation. "Feh, _I'll_ be fine, woman."

Kagome clenched her fists. "Yeah right, even _you_ shouldn't have done that! And another thing, Tetsusaiga is really rusty, and there's a disease called Tetanus (A/N: YES I did spell that right– I had to look the freaking thing up in the dictionary!) and it comes from open wounds…Inuyasha you can die if you get it!"

"So be it."

Kagome blinked in confusion as the addressed hanyou nodded towards Kirara to get her to transform, Inuyasha finally looked down and met her wondering gaze. "As long as you're ok."

He laid her down on Kirara's soft back. Kagome glared at him. "That doesn't make _any _sense!"

Inuyasha smiled a little "Shut up, Kagome." silently; he reached up, slid his hand under her neck and softly pressed his claws into her flesh. Kagome gasped for breath a little before her eyes shut and her body went completely limp on the fire-cat.

Miroku walked up to Inuyasha and put a hand on his shoulder; the hanyou turned around to see the monk was wearing a very mischievous smile. Inuyasha gave a "feh" then shrugged his still smiling friend off.

"Lets go already!" Inuyasha yelled the others exchanged smiles and caught up. Inuyasha and Kagome had gotten closer over the years, but this night was to be an edict in destiny.

Sango and Miroku were constantly on their guard the whole way back, so Shippo was the only one who noticed: Inuyasha didn't remove his eyes from Kagome's sleeping form the whole walk to their camp.

'Damn it, Kagome, where the hell are you!?' Inuyasha yelled to himself as his frantically scanned his surroundings for the miko, driven by concern.

Even after getting very badly wounded, she had refused to go back to Kaede's village, because (as she recently let the bomb drop) Naraku had completed the Shikon No Tama, so there was no time to lose, and they couldn't afford to waste any more time by going back there.

Well, Inuyasha didn't think waiting for Kagome to heal was a waste of time, but **now** she had gone off somewhere without telling anyone, which _really_ got on his nerves.

'Probably went to get away from you, she still thinks you let Kikyo get away, you baka.' a voice in his head answered. It didn't talk very often, but when it did it was blunt. Kagome called it a conscience.

'Shut up!' he told the voice

'You shut up.'

'Iie no , _you_ shut– Kagome!' He completely forgot about his argument with himself at the sight of the miko.

Inuyasha dashed to where the girl was sitting in a flower field all alone. The setting sun was casting an orange glow on her skin as she stared up aimlessly at the sky.

He crouched on all fours in front of her with a glare that masked his deep concern "You're _supposed_ to be resting!"

Kagome gracefully extended her arm to him, which had been covered with gashes just the night before; it was scar-free. "I'm not going to let this slow me down, Inuyasha…besides, I'm almost healed, thanks to you."

He blinked, sighed, let go of his support of himself and fell back into a sitting position in front her. He held out a clawed hand. "Let me see it."

The miko did as instructed and gave him her arm. The measure of how badly she had been wounded had been equally distributed all over her really, and her arm was easiest to inspect, so it kind of stood as an example of how the rest of her was doing.

After staring intently at the limb for a long while, Inuyasha finally looked up, straight into her waiting hazel eyes. "There's something I need to do, Kagome."

Kagome didn't have time to ask what that was. Inuyasha slipped his hand gently behind her head then pressed his lips to hers, her eyes widened as she felt Inuyasha's tongue in her mouth, but she didn't even time to close her eyes before he pulled away and stood.

The girl looked up at him helplessly from the ground "Inu…yasha? …"

"Swallow" he commanded

She blinked "_Swallow?!_"

"Just do it."

Once again, she did as instructed, as soon as she did whatever pain was left started to diminish, somehow she felt as if a large burden had been taken from her, which was case.

Then the miko lowered her head as she understood what he had just done. 'He wasn't kissing me really, just speeding up the healing process…of course he wouldn't kiss _me_…he still…' She couldn't bring herself to think of it.

She clenched her eyes shut to stop the tears to stop before they had a chance to escape her hazel orbs.

"Arigato thank you , Inuyasha." Kagome said quietly, as she stood to go back to their current camp.

The hanyou somehow felt her emotions shift, and he decided he was going to do something about it. "Kagome…"

In a spilt second he wrapped his arms her and tightly hugged her back to his chest. "Gods, Kagome, I thought I had lost you back there…". He took in her scent, her wonderful scent, the aroma of an accumulation of flowers, each one selected to make the total effect perfect.

She was relaxing under him before she could stop herself, yet that didn't stop her from absolutely denying any concern he might hold for her. 'I hate this– why do I feel so safe in his arms?' She sighed inwardly 'don't get used to this.'

"Kagome, Kikyo said that you didn't care if she killed you…as long as you could help to finish Naraku first, please tell me that's not true." Inuyasha whispered as he reached up and gently ran his clawed hand through her raven hair.

"I can't deny that, Inuyasha." Kagome said looking down.

His youki a demon's aura flared in anger, he turned Kagome around and held her shoulders at arms length, although grief replaced anger when he saw the dark forlornness her eyes. "Why?" he asked, barely able to speak.

Kagome's eyes narrowed to slits as she forced him off her. "Why not!? You're going to leave with Kikyo after the battle, and then I'll have **nothing** so I see no reason for me to live after that." She looked away. "I know it's selfish, but I don't care."

"Kagome…"

Even though she wasn't looked in his direction he could see her eyes narrow in anger again, but her voice was calm a she spoke. "You told me last night that you would always be here…but you shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Inuyasha."

The inu-oni clenched his fist. "I _can_ keep that promise, Kagome, and I swear I will."

She blinked in surprise then looked back at him. "Nani?"

Inuyasha's face softened. "You didn't hear, did you?"

"Iie …I was trying to use my miko energy as a shield, but that failed… so it shifted itself to stop my pain without me even knowing about it." said Kagome. "Hear what?"

The hanyou walked up to her, and locked his amber eyes with her hazel ones. "I'm not going to hell with Kikyo, Kagome, not after what she did."

Her eyes widened, and for the longest time all the girl could do was stare head on at him.

"Nani?" Inuyasha demanded

Kagome didn't look away this time "I thought you didn't care, that's all…"

His only reply to her was not to burst out in a rage but simply to give a sad sigh "I really screwed up all those times, didn't I?"

The miko jerked back a little ways "huh?"

Inuyasha shook his head, and for the longest time he didn't say anything, he was pushing away the feeling that he was making an idiot of himself.

Sometimes people just spill. "I just want you to know, Kagome, that I won't be able to go on without you by my side…and I also want you to know that I really care about you, and I didn't kill Kikyo for a reason." he couldn't stop the blush from spreading across his cheeks as he spoke, much to his own dismay.

Kagome looked down.

She was glad he admitted to caring about her but still, it had taken him so long to say it. She knew that he didn't kill Kikyo because he still loved her, and a lot more than he loved Kagome, if he even loved her at all.

She wouldn't allow herself to believe anything else.

Owari Chapter Ni

Amehana: I'm sorry for stopping so early…O.o o.O or are you glad? If you like this short chapter be sure to tell me!

I'm also sorry making it so sad, I had to stop there you see I was watching an episode of Inuyasha with that &$! Kikyo in it & Inuyasha made me SO ANGERY! smites him

Turns to readers well, I guess I should tell you that the story will get a lot more romantic later or so help me! I love fluff, and I'm having such a hard time resisting it!

slaps hand away from typing fluff no, bad! Must wait for plot to set first, then fluff

It'll get more exciting too.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONEGAI PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED MORE REVEIWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. Gathering Forces

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha®…I would kill to own Sesshoumaru…or Inuyasha for that matter…yummy.

Chapter III– Gathering Forces

The sounds of the mountain were much too quiet that day. Something about the way the wind blew, and how the surrounding woodland's creatures were somewhat silent…as if they were hesitant to make any noise.

The okami okami prince noticed, of course he noticed, he was nobility– it was his job to notice, right? Damn right! And there was no way the great Kouga was going to let something as prominent as this slip.

Okay, so he it did take him a while to notice the shift in the world, but he _did_ notice it…eventually. Lets just say his observance-ness level was enough to make any reasonable anime character sweat drop and fall over before they could stop themselves.

But what this wolf lacked in brains he made up in…um…strength! Hai, if there was one thing Kouga was good at, it was fighting, and he had super speed to match…or he _did_. He could run at an incredible pace that could not be matched, that is, until that Kagura wench attacked his tribe and took his jewel shards.

Kagura had been undoubtedly sent by Naraku, the very same person that caused his tribe's death so long ago. So now he had _two_ means of vengeance on that miserable youkai– and he was dead set on carrying them out.

And that's the very reason he spun around when that scent reached his nose. The prince unconsciously growled as his demonic instincts quickly identified the owner of that smell and that huge youki.

But after the discovery Kouga smirked and placed an arrogant hand on his hip. "It's that Naraku guy."

The other okami demon, with a white mohawk stood by his side, quickly sniffed, and nodded. "Hai Kouga, he's the one who killed everyone and took our Jewel Shards."

The prince nodded. He turned to his comrade, determination shining in his blue sickle-like eyes. "Ready everyone, we move out as soon a possible."

Ginta (A/N: I _think_ that's his name, yes, there is a wolf demon in Kouga's tribe with a white mohawk, cool, huh?) grinned and nodded, then sped off to carry out his leader's request, just as eager as the prince himself to avenge their lost comrades, for the bonds of wolves go much deeper than friendship or kin.

Kouga turned with that same arrogant pose toward the direction in which that massive youki was pulsing. 'I'm coming for you, Naraku, and I'll make you pay for all you've done.'

His senses tweaked. The very tall, very eloquent, and _very_ handsome youkai lord gracefully spun around, hiding his sudden surprise exceedingly well. He stared absently through the dense and colorful forest to beyond, where a massive youki was growing larger every second.

Breaking his stoic attitude, Sesshoumaru glared while he contemplated this new threat. Well, it was a situation to him, a threat to anyone else, he was _much_ too great to let anything scare him.

A girl about sixteen strode up to his side "What is it, Sesshoumaru-sama suffix for Lord or Lady ?" (A/N: the peanut gallery claps and cheers like they do when a favorite dormant actor appears in a new hit movie v)

Her black hair fell to her waist, flipped out at the tips, her auburn eyes were wise and playful at the same time, she wore a expensive violet kimono dotted with cherry blossoms, some raining across the fabric, some still holding onto branches, all weaved in silk. A katana was strapped to her tiny small waist, her thin curvaceous body and beauty were a sight for sore eyes, even standing next to such a extravagant youkai, the only thing that seemed out of place about this girl was a shoulder length ponytail drawn from the side of her head, but it gave her a childlike streak which only added to her charm.

A human, yes, that kawaii cute little girl that had wormed her way into Sesshoumaru's heart all those years ago had grown into a beautiful young woman, which was a dangerous inconvenience on the Western Lord. (A/N: and can you guess why? . giggle)

little 

Still, he valued her presence and had silently vowed to be her protector when she was still a chibi little , and he would hold true to that promise until the day he died, and being immortal, that was a pretty darn firm commitment.

"Concentrate, Rin. Can you feel that?" the prince asked without taking his eyes from the direction of the youki.

The girl closed her eyes for a second, and then they shot open as she gasped. "That's Naraku!"

"Hai." Sesshoumaru said, hiding his loathing for the aforesaid.

"Naraku, you mean that bastard who gave Lord Sesshoumaru the false arm in a means to kill him those years ago?" a small demon, with bulging yellow eyes, green skin, and not even to Sesshoumaru's knee in height exclaimed.

"The same, Jaken, and the Naraku who kidnapped Rin."

Rin was blushed a little and looked down so she could clear the rosy color burning on her cheeks.

Hate tainted ones heart, but on the inside she secretly _liked_ the fact that Sesshoumaru wanted revenge for her. Still, she wouldn't allow him to be taken by fury.

The girl didn't herself know how, but Rin was able to stop him from killing someone, even when he was so mad he _did_ show rage; that usually occurred when someone had hurt her.

The times she had held him back from killing her attacker, it threw the usually collected demon into a fit of jealousy, and that was the only thing that really unnerved him. It was during those times which only made her love him more (though she didn't understand the fluttering sensation in her stomach, nor did she know the reason he got so envious) …the way he was so territorial was…cute, and it made her feel appreciated, but she hated the way it sometimes lead to a fight with him. But in the end, even that made them closer…it _was_ working out their differences, wasn't it?

He had always been protective, ever since he had brought her back to life with his Tenseiga all those years ago…

They had become close…and perhaps they were to get closer, hai?

"It seems that Naraku has collected all the fragments of the Shikon No Tama," said Sesshoumaru placidly.

"Nani? I thought your half-brother was searching for the shards." Rin said confused, she had met Inuyasha and his companions some years back, but the encounter hadn't given her the chance to get to know them enough. She had been so little that she barely remembered them anyway.

But, Rin suddenly recalled, some years ago she had asked Sesshoumaru why he didn't have one of his arms. Jaken had been hesitant to tell the story, considering it was probably a shaming subject for the youkai lord. But nonetheless, Sesshoumaru himself told the girl all about his little brother, his fight with him, and how Inuyasha was on a quest to gather the pieces of the legendary Sacred Jewel.

She had loved it when Sesshoumaru had told her about the exciting fight, and the very day after she had asked the prince to teach _her_ to fight. It was to him that she owed her skill today.

She had loved listening to his rich voice, and loved the way his stories put images of vivid detail in her head, she wanted to hear more, and after a while she was sitting snuggled up in his lap while they sat in front of the firelight, or while he was resting high in a tree holding her close, just telling her stories.

As she grew older, she would sit right next to him, or in front of him with wide eyes. His stories got more gruesome or depressing…and as she matured, she realized that he only talked to _her_ that way, when he was alone with her, with his amber eyes clouded.

Eyes clouded…as if…he was remembering something, then one night it hit her. He _was_ remembering the past, his own past, he wasn't merely telling her stories, he was confiding in her.

As time passed she realized how much she knew about him that no one else knew.

And for some reason, she liked that.

"He was, and he has failed it seems." the Prince of the Western Lands answered with absolutely no sympathy, disappointment, or even remorse in his voice.

"Why would Naraku want the Jewel milord?" asked Jaken

Rin caught his eyes going dark before he spoke, "I do not know that Jaken, but I do know it is for an ill purpose, most likely to make himself stronger."

The chibi demon muttered something along the lines of taking the easy way out of things.

Rin swallowed "We are going to go after him, hai Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked timidly, yet sweetly.

Sesshoumaru didn't look at her "Of course."

The girl smiled, ha! She had achieved her goal.

Finally, the noble youkai turned to address his servant and companion. "That is, if you two are willing to fight." neither his face nor his voice showed any sign of hesitation or concern in regard for safety, or course, but this time Rin knew it was there, otherwise he wouldn't be asking.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama I will fight along side of you," said Rin still holding that beautiful smile.

"Do you not think girl? You will surely get in the way! " Jaken exclaimed

"Oh shut-up, Jaken, you're the one who doesn't think, he just asked us, baka."

"You have no respect, girl."

"Arigato." answered Rin flatly

"No manners either. Do you honestly believe that the great Sesshoumaru will want the likes of _you_ to fight with him?" Jaken asked. It came out harsher than he meant it to. True, he thought Rin could be annoying, but he really didn't hate her.

She knew he was mostly kidding, but she still had to admit he had a good point.

Instantaneously the pair slowly turned to the youkai lord who had silently been watching their quarrel with hidden amusement, to see what his view on the subject was.

He stared at them stoically for a moment, he simply said. "You are correct Rin, I want you both to assist me if you feel the need to."

Gracefully, he turned around, and said "Come, we leave immediately."

Behind him Rin half-smirked, half-smiled, and quietly told Jaken "I won", as she had so many times as a child.

In reply the servant snottily looked ahead. "This time, girl."

Owari Chapter San

Author's Note: Well, Sesshy and Rin made their debut! huggels both of them I love them both so much, and I had a lot of fun describing them, not to mention their relationship giggle

Well chapter four will be up soon IF YOU REVIEW, HINT, HINT

Shippo: very subtle

Amehana: I know! Anyway, what'll happen next chapter? You'll have to R&R to find out! Sayonara!

P.S. I know my chapters are short but hold tight, they _will_ get longer. I have somewhat of a plan in this crazy head of mine.


	5. Proven

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha®…dang my luck…

Chapter IV– Proven

At once, they all spun around, this time the youki was so huge they could _all_ feel it.

The miko amongst them sighed a very mournful sigh. "See? He's done it."

Sango nodded while glaring absently in Naraku's potential direction. "We all believed you before Kagome-chan, we just didn't _want_ to believe it."

"I know, I didn't either." the addressed one confessed, remorse darkening her eyes.

Inuyasha's eyes then darkened to match Kagome's, not because of the fact Naraku was going to use the Jewel very soon, but because he really hated seeing her like that.

Well, he was just going to have to do something about it, now wasn't he?

"Stop looking so damn sad, there's nothing we can do about it."

That got their attention, so he continued.

"But we _can_ stop him from using it. We've waited long enough so lets go kick his lazy ass, and get the Shikon No Tama back!"

Miroku put a thoughtful finger to his chin. "You know, Inuyasha, you may have a point."

"You're damn right I have a point!" the hanyou exclaimed, of course he had a point, when had _he_ not had a point?

Kagome smiled. "You're right. So…lets go, it's not like us to just sit around and wait for something bad to happen, why start now?" she supplied.

Shippo was the first to answer "Yeah! Lets go!" They say there is nothing more cruel and pure than a child.

"Hai Kagome-chan." Sango said with a smile

"Alright then, it's settled." Miroku calmly confirmed, a smile of his own dawning his face.

Inuyasha clenched his fists with a smirk of determination on his face. "So the fight is finally here, we can all avenge Naraku for all the things he's done."

"Hai!" everyone chimed in unison.

(A/N: erg, that was _so_ animeish. Good thing this is an anime O.o )

The inu-oni looked at the young miko standing beside "Lead the way."

She smiled, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, who could've guessed it would be Inu-yasha to take care of the pep talk? Weird. And yet it fit somehow. "Okay."

With that she spun to where her miko senses were being stirred up the most and her companions followed.

Somewhat ahead, Kagome turned to them, clutching the bow that she had slung over her shoulder.

Her smile was sad as she spoke. "Guys, this is going to sound really cliché…" She looked away for a split second, "But I don't care. We've been through so much together, I love you all, and I want you to know if we don't live trough this, I'm so glad that demon pulled me into the well three years ago. I know this place and all of you better than I know the time I was born in. It was dangerous, and hard a lot of times…" her voice trailed off as she reminisced on painful memories.

But then she smiled, really smiled. "…But if I was given the choice to go through this again, even with the pain, I would do it in a heartbeat."

At that she blushed a little "I just wanted to say that."

Before she could turn and try to tame the redness in her cheeks, Shippo ran up to her and hugged her leg tightly "We love you too, onēsan older sister ."

Kagome looked up to see Sango and Miroku nodding, even Inuyasha, although just slightly. He did, however, have a blush on his face that could easily rival Kagome's now fading one. Not only that, he was also looking away. Boys.

"Thanks guys." Kagome breathed emotionally, tears of relief welling up in her eyes.

Kagome felt her "little brother" let go of her, only to be enveloped in another hug, this time by Sango.

The slayer pulled away and looked straight into her eyes "You are the sister I've never had, Kagome-chan, and I know we'll pull through this. Never give up hope."

Sango turned and addressed everyone "That goes for all of you."

This time Miroku (under a certain hanyou's _very _watchful eye) walked over to Kagome.

For a second she thought he was going be a lecher, but he did nothing of the sort, just rested friendly hand on her shoulder and smiled whole-heartedly. "We are very glad you came to this time, Kagome-sama. Without you, it is very likely that none of us would've ever meet, and that would be very unfortunate, indeed."

"Thanks Miroku-sama." Kagome said

"No problem, and now when all of this is over would you be so kind as to bear my-" the sentence everyone knew was coming was, gratefully, cut short by none other than Inuyasha when his fist came in contact with the monk's head.

The pervert rubbed the spot on where he had been hit. "I was just kidding, my void will disappear when Naraku is defeated, you know."

"You had better damn well have been kidding." the hanyou muttered.

Now it was his turn, and what he did next was quite unexpected. In approximately one second Inuyasha had his arms wrapped tightly around Kagome.

Her eyes widened for a second, wa- was he hugging her?! On his own will?! In front of everyone?! Sentimental moments must bring out the best in people, or the insanity.

Her eyes slowly returned to normal, reminding herself yet again not to get used to this, but allowing herself to enjoy the moment anyway. For some reason she liked his embrace the most…

She heard Inuyasha titled his head down to her ear and whisper so softly no one else heard the words of hope he gave her: "It's not over yet…don't ever leave, Kagome."

When he felt her nod against him, her released her, but refused to meet the eyes of anyone.

Nothing was said, and continuing that awkward silence the team started off to meet their destiny.

Finally, some ways into the woods Miroku was the first to speak "How about a kiss for good luck, lovely Sango?"

The huntress made a growling sound, which turned out pretty good for a human. "Iie." she replied flatly, her hand unconsciously tightening on the strap of her Hiraikotsu just in case she needed to hit a certain someone with it in the near future.

"Come on, for old time's sake!" the lecher begged.

"And what 'old time' would that be, houshi-sama?"

"Um…that's beside the point, please, just his once?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Sango growled again.

"Please?"

"No."

"Onegai?"

"No."

"Pllllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssseeeeeee?"

"NO HOUSHI-SAMA!"

Laughter echoed through the forest, as the companions went on either to claim the future life that was rightfully theirs, or die trying.

Owari Chapter Shi

Amehana: Short chappie, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to make to so short but I had to write this, every anime has some confession time, and in my story this was it. It won't be all sappiness all the time, that would kill both of us.

Anyway, next chapter what happens when these three groups coming to kill Naraku collide…will there be a riot? Or will there be…

evil grin I'm not telling, I'm not telling la la la la la la! How will you ever know? REVIEW & KEEP YOUR SOCKS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	6. Truce

Disclaimer: these things are getting really annoying…refer to a previous chapter if any of you care…but I'm sure you don't…eep! runs away from person who is very angry her for insulting their almighty system

To All My Devoted Readers: I am SO SORRY for not posting in Lord-knows-how-long. I was in _Grease_ (The musical) & it took over my life! I have not abandoned this fic by any means! In fact, as a special treat I will post _two_ chapters this week. I will never procrastinate again. I love you all, thank you, and hang with me.

Chapter V– Truce

It was peaceful and quiet as the Inuyasha gang made their way toward Naraku. Too many thoughts were occupying their heads to speak, so they said nothing. They all simply expected this awkward, yet appreciated, silence to linger all the way to the end of their destination.

Oh how wrong they were.

Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped in his tracks, and began to growl deeply as a loathed scent reached his nostrils. And the others turned just in time to hear his growl form a single word, a name, "Kouga"…

"Yo Kagome!" a very excited voice called from absolutely nowhere, before the speaker landed on Inuyasha's head (A/N: yes, on his head. Kouga has a very interesting habit of jumping on Inuyasha's head very randomly…it's quiet funny).

"Damn it, wolf! Get the hells off of me!" Inuyasha snarled, as he was trying to shred Kouga's gravitating mass with his claws. It was a wonder he could still stand.

The okami jumped off his living perch before the inu youkai could touch him, and landed right in front of Kagome. He was half-smiling because at the joy her presence, and half-smirking at Inuyasha's dismay. The seething dog demon was quickly ambushed by his friends.

"And how is my woman?" he then turned to an enraged Inuyasha, "Dogface, you better be taking care of her, she's mine after we go fight Naraku, you know."

"DAMN YOU TO HELL, KOUGA!!!!!!!!!!" the hanyou yelled at the top of his lungs while being held in place by Shippo, Kirara and Miroku, who were barley keeping him from tearing to wolf into tiny pieces.

"Hi Kouga-kun suffix for friend or honorable person " the miko said cheerfully, without a bit of vengeance toward Inuyasha in her voice…well, okay, maybe a little.

Sango walked up to the prince, "What do you mean, 'after _we_ go fight Naraku'?"

"Me and my tribe, I'm not going to fight him on my own, of course!" Kouga replied.

The slayer sighed while sweat dropping at the wolf's vague answer.

Kagome, however, was more collected, "You mean _you_ also know that Naraku is going to use the Jewel soon, Kouga-kun?"

"Of course." he answered.

"So you're going to fight him?" she glanced around, "But where are–"

"Oi ne-chan little sister !" came a voice nowhere once agian. (A/N: …huh…that must be a Yourozoku Kouga's wolf tribe thing…or it could just be a demon thing, but most likely it's a Anime thing… Monty Python Crowd get on with it!)

Before she knew what was happening, Kagome was swept up in a playful embrace and spun around high in the air.

"Get your gods damn hands off her!" Inuyasha yelled, and fought Shippo, Kirara, Miroku, and Sango (who had just joined them in holding back of the dog demon) with a new vigor.

But Kagome was laughing, and once she was carefully set back on the ground, the miko threw her arms around the neck of the person who had just lifted her. "Hakkaku! I missed you so much!"

She let go of him to embrace the other okami, in his human form, waiting for his hug.

A split second later she released him to see that all the rest of Kouga's comrades had arrived at their Prince's side. "I missed all of you guys!"

"We missed you too, sis," An okami demon named Ginta (Whom Kagome had just embraced) said while ruffling her hair much as a big brother would do.

The young miko smiled, "So you guys are going to fight Naraku?"

"Hai." Ginta answered

Hakkaku looked at Kagome "After we kill him will you and come and live with us, ne-chan?"

At that Inuyasha let out a very deep, very loud growl.

The girl looked down. "I don't know."

Ginta smiled warmly "That's ok."

Kagome smiled a relived smile as she glanced around at the Yoursozoku. Most of them looked like oversized wolves, for they weren't powerful enough to take a human like form. But others were in their humanoid form, like Ginta and Hakkaku; she was closest to them.

A few years ago she would've denied their referral to her as "sis" on a impulse, but after a while she had gotten used to it…it meant they trusted her and wouldn't ever hurt her. Once a bound with a wolf was established it was never broken.

You see, she kind of liked the fact that she would always had friends in the tribe. At first they merely thought of her as "Kouga's woman" but after randomly meeting her time after time they began to actually enjoy her company, and accepted her as one of their own. Also, they respected her, after seeing her fight on many occasions, not to mention the fact that she had saved their lives on many occasions.

Inuyasha hated her friendship with any of the wolves; he thought it meant she had decided to go with Kouga…but she would always think of them as just good friends, just friends, even the prince himself who had confessed his love to her some time ago.

Finally, Inuyasha threw the two demons and two humans off him and leapt in front of Kouga to glare daggers at him. "Listen, wolf, Naraku is _mine_ so mind your own damn business."

The prince glared back at him. "Don't be so selfish, puppy, Naraku killed my comrades, or have you not been able to remember that?"

"I remembered; I just don't care."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome said sharply with a glare of her own.

Kouga smirked as Inuyasha told Kagome to "Shut up" which she returned with a "sit" and that, of course, that sent the dog demon crashing to the ground and cursing into the dirt.

While Inuyasha was still subdued Miroku approached Kouga. "Perhaps it's best if we put away our differences for now, and ban together in order to defeat Naraku, or if not together, then at least on good terms. The enemy will have an advantage if we are distracted by our rivalries with each other." In saying that last part he turned to give Inuyasha a blank look as he was dusting himself off, still grumbling.

The inu-oni glared at the monk. "Nani?!"

The monk just shook his head and turned back to Kouga to recieve his answer.

The wolf put a hand on his chin as he contemplated. "Good point monk, hai, we will be one team in this fight." He looked at Inuyasha "Dogface! We will continue our fight for Kagome after Naraku is dead."

The addressed exploded in rage, "Kouga!!!! Naraku is _mine_ and you'll never get Kagome, bastard"

Kouga, however remained stoic, "He killed my brothers and I'll destroy him for

that…besides you should leave this (and Kagome) to a _real_ youkai, half-breed."

"Fuck. You." The hanyou returned in a very low voice.

"What is it that you what to avenge so badly?" questioned the prince innocently.

"None of your damn business, that's what." Inuyasha replied, using the same deep tone. But then, out of the corner of his eye he saw pain flicker across Kagome's own hazel eyes, unnoticed to all but him. _She_ knew whom drove Inuyasha to kill Naraku. And though she wouldn't ever admit to the protest of it, it was there, buried deep in her heart.

At the site of her Inuyasha softened; he had hurt her enough. But, being Inuyasha he replied with a. "Keh, fine, do what you want, but don't expect to live very long during the fight…or after for that matter…I still haven't got back at you for kidnapping Kagome."

As the inu was talking he stubbornly crossed his arms inside of his haori and looked away, signaling he was finished negotiating, and that he could care less.

Sango, Shippo and Miroku sighed at their arrogant friend in unison. The slayer among them was the first to speak. "Well, lets go, no time to waste"

"Make haste girl, we haven't all day, I have half a mind to leave you behind!" The servant of the Great Lord Sesshoumaru exclaimed impatiently while waving his staff frantically to emphasize his words.

"Shut up, Jaken!" Rin yelled back with equal vigor. She filled her hands with water and drenched her face with it, them sighed a delighted sigh as the cold water rushed down her skin.

"Come on!" Jaken yelled once more.

"Fine!" the girl growled, quickly filled up her water flask and strapped it back on her hip, then quickly stood and spun on her heels back to where Sesshoumaru was waiting patiently for her on a rock.

She politely bowed in front of the youkai lord, half way out of respect, and half just to make Jaken angry. "Gomen-nasai sorry , Sesshoumaru-sama"

He looked at her, his features unreadable, as always. "That's fine, Rin." Gracefully as ever the Western Prince stood. "You're not a youkai, and you push yourself far more than a normal human should, so I do expect that you need rest sometimes."

She ran to his side "Hai, but…" Rin bowed her head, "I feel as if I'm a burden, and I don't want to be…"

"Do not think that way." Sesshoumaru stated stoically.

Jaken caught up to Rin, "You are lucky he favors you, girl!" upon saying so he squealed, and stopped frozen in his tracks to await the wrath he was to receive for his insolence; suggesting Sesshoumaru thought of a mere human girl as more than a traveling companion!

But much to the chibi demon (and Rin)'s surprise, it never came; Sesshoumaru simply kept on walking forward leaving the other two behind to exchange confused glances. For a second all was quite.

He turned to him with stone-like features "Are you two coming, or are you just going to stand there and let Naraku claim all the lands in Japan as his own?" With that he turned back around.

Seconds passed…then "Wait for us, Lord Sesshoumaru!" they cried out in unison and ran to his side once more.

The Youkai Lord stopped in his tracks.

"Nani Sesshoumaru-sama?" asked Rin when she saw the slightest bit of an indescribable emotion flicker in his amber eyes.

"It seems, Rin, that you will finally get to meet my half-brother" he said dully.

The girl gave him a blank look. "You say that as if it's a bad thing."

"And have you thought that perhaps it isn't? Inuyasha is a half-breed!" Jaken exclaimed.

Rin cocked an eyebrow "So?"

"So!?"

"That's what I said!"

"Be silent you two." Sesshoumaru said calmly, which still broke their quarrel. On impulse the youkai lord stepped in front of Rin, not exactly sure why he felt the need to protect her, but doing so anyway.

For the first time ever, Rin laid eyes on the one called Inuyasha and his companions long enough to take in their features. She quickly confirmed which one was Sesshoumaru's brother:

He had the same long slivery-white hair, the same lean, muscular build, (A/N: yeah, I see you drooling), the same handsome features, the same amber eyes, which promptly narrowed to slits, the same clawed hands which went to the hilt of his trusty sword Tetsusaiga, the sword Sesshoumaru used to be so desperate to get at. And apparently he had the same bad temper as he growled deeply, and the same territorial-protective streak as he moved in front of a woman dressed in strange clothes.

Sesshoumaru however showed neither compassion nor hate toward his little brother. "So, we meet yet again, Inuyasha."

He smirked, "Long time no see Sesshoumaru, have you given up taking the Tetsusaiga or are you here to fight me? Either way is fine."

That was the one of the first differences Rin saw– he was arrogant beyond the bounds of arrogance, he also didn't dress regally like his brother, but the red outfit he wore suited him well.

"After all this time you still haven't matured any, brother," Sesshoumaru said calmly, "But iie, I am not here to take your sword, I have no need for it anymore, not after mastering Toukijin."

The youkai lord stoically continued "I have no quarrel with you today, I have more important matters to attend to."

Inuyasha snorted, "Like what?"

"Do not tell me you haven't noticed Naraku's power has been on the rise lately." answered the Western Prince.

"I have…what does that have to do with anything?" the hanyou replied, slowly shedding his edgy position.

"I have my own means of vengeance on him as well as you do, dear brother." he answered, the name by which he addressed Inuyasha dripping with satire.

"Fine…not that I care." Then being the **smart** puppy he is, Inuyasha noticed for the first time a human girl that seemed to be about sixteen standing behind his older brother.

At that he drew his Tetsusaiga, transforming it into a fang as it left the scabbard and pointed it toward Sesshoumaru. "_That's_ despicable, I don't know why you have a human girl with you, but I won't allow you to keep her as your slave."

At his words, Rin's eyes widened. Leave Sesshoumaru. That was her one and only fear that had surfaced as a child and would never let her alone. Fortunatly she regained herself before she did anything completely rash.

But, being the brave girl she was, she pushed in front of Sesshoumaru and walked to the middle of the space dividing the two teams.

She bowed before deeply, them, then straightened. "I am not Sesshoumaru-sama's slave, I'm his companion, my name is Rin, I met him some time ago…and yes I am a human."

The young woman that Inuyasha was guarding stepped from behind _him_ and met Rin in the clearing to bow just as she had.

When she straightened Rin saw she was very pretty, with long wavy raven hair, bright hazel eyes, looked to be just a few years older than her, and was wearing the weirdest outfit Rin had ever seen. She had a bow and quiver filled with arrows on her shoulder.

The girl smiled sweetly, but her in her eyes she was concocting something, "My name is Kagome…" her voice trailed off for moment, as she studied Rin further. Finally she hit upon it, "You're the little girl!" Her smile brightened even more, "The little girl that Naraku kidnapped…wow…you've grown up…"

Another young woman walked up to Kagome's side, her clothes were more recognizable; a pink kimono with a blue scarf tied around her shoulders and green skirt, with black skin-tight material under the sleeves of her arms and around her ankles. She had on pink eye shadow and was also pretty and fit like Kagome. Her eyes and hair were both a deep brown. A katana was strapped at her waist and huge boomerang dawned across her back– a youkai exterminator. Why was a slayer traveling with demons?

The woman smiled too and bowed "My name is Sango of the Taijiya clan," she gestured to a small, yellow, two-tailed fire-cat with orange eyes on her shoulder "And this is Kirara."

The kit mewed a hello then jumped on Rin's shoulder and lightly nuzzled her face. Rin giggled and reached up to pet her, glad this little demon had broken the tension between the two groups.

"She likes you," said Sango with a smile.

"I like her too," Rin said, taking the fire-cat off her shoulder and cradling her in her arms then looked up eager to meet this new group of people– she was liking them already.

Kagome smiled and directed to an annoyed looking hanyou who had come to stand behind her, arms crossed. "And you've probably already guessed this is Inuyasha."

Her hand moved to rest on the head of a little demon that reached her knee in height, who had slipped to her side unnoticed. He had blue eyes, red hair pulled back in a ponytail, which showed his pointed ears. He wore blue pants, a lighter blue patterned with leaves shirt and a vest, and he was a very, _very _cute chibi.

Rin placed her hands on her knees and closed her eyes to little arcs in front of the kawaii demon. "And who is this? He's cute."

He blushed and bowed slightly. "My name is Shippo."

Rin smiled and straightened, then she was introduced to another human, a monk. He had black hair, with a small ponytail at the back. He wore the traditional monk robes, although his were black with a deep violet over them, and they left it up the imagination to what he was built like. A golden colored staff jingled as he walked. His blue eyes were shining along with the mischievous smile on his face, he was handsome, but for some reason, Rin thought he was up to something.

She soon found her suspicions confirmed, when he introduced himself as "Miroku" then took both her hands in his.

Rin noticed he had his right hand wrapped up in the purple material of his robes. Was he injured? No, although he had sky blue prayer beads wrapped around his wrist…why?

Miroku smiled. "Your name is Rin, hai? What a beautiful girl, now you see, my right arm has been cursed by Naraku. If in the unfortunate event that Naraku survives this fight, then this void will sallow my body and kill me. So, there is something I need to ask you–Will you bear my child?"

"Hentai pervert !" Rin screamed momentarily before jumping away from him and slapping him across the cheek as she felt his hand rubbing her backside.

Miroku sighed as Inuyasha smirked at the red hand mark in his face. The lecher shrugged "It was worth a try."

As Kagome and Sango (in a fit of laughter) went over to a frustrated Rin to explain to her that he did that to _all_ girls, Miroku felt a very icy glare on him 'who?' he looked around to see the threat was coming from none other than 'Sesshoumaru!?…odd…perhaps there is more to this human girl than we know.'

Rin decided to forgive Miroku, for now. She smiled at the okami behind the Inuyasha gang, "Are they part of your group too?"

Inuyasha gave a "feh". Kagome smiled beckoned for a wolf to come up to her side.

She gestured to him, he had brown hair pulled up in a high pony tail, sky-blue sickle-shaped eyes, pointed ears, through his arrogant smirk-smile Rin could see his fangs, which promptly gave her the conclusion he was a youkai, but a very powerful one to keep up a human image like that.

He was handsome, had a brown tail and wore armor. Kagome introduced him, "This is Kouga, the Prince of the Yourozoku okami/"

"And this is his tribe" She held swept her hand over the pack, standing behind the confrontation, "They want to fight Naraku too, so we've teamed up with them."

"For now." Inuyasha muttered audibly.

Kagome heaved a relived sighed "And that's everyone."

Rin smiled, "Arigato for your introductions, it was nice to meet you all." With that she handed Kirara to Sango, and with sad eyes turned around to stand with Sesshoumaru and Jaken. She was glad to stay with them…but she wanted to learn more about Inuyasha and his strange team.

"Inuyasha, since we are here I might as well tell you that I am calling a truce between us." Sesshoumaru said, though his face remained the same, as usual.

Inuyasha almost fell over in shock (and he wasn't the only one) as his eyes widened. He reared on his brother "Nani what ?!"

"I do believe you heard me;I no longer feel the need to take Tetsusaiga, it is clear now it was meant for you, and I do believe our father distributed our swords to each other with a purpose, and we should honor that." Sesshoumaru answered calmly.

The hanyou just couldn't stop staring.

Seeing his brother's shock, the Prince of the Western Lands continued, "And I believe it wise if we stay on the same side during the final battle with Naraku, and you cannot stop me from fighting with him, and knowing your stubborn nature, I doubt _I_ can stop _you_, so it is pointless to quarrel with you anymore, consider us on good terms."

Kagome blinked her confusion, 'Sesshoumaru is calling a truce?! And not just until Naraku is dead, but forever?! But…' She looked down at the green grass at her feet, 'Now that I think about it, he is lot more down-to-earth than Inuyasha'. For some reason, Kagome couldn't shake the strong suspicion that Rin has something to do with this new attitude of his.

She turned at the wide-eyed hanyou beside her "So, Inuyasha?"

He blinked, breathing as if her hadn't for a few seconds. "This week is getting more and more interesting, but…" he glanced at Kagome, as if her presence could give him reassurance, "I accept, I guess."

Kagome smiled brightly as the rest of her friend's gaped. She felt the need to über hug, Inuyasha but pushed it away before she could think more on the subject.

Sesshoumaru remained silent through all of this, then spoke, "Good, now, we have a long way to go, so it's best we get started."

Rin smiled and followed him as he led the way towards Naraku's now very apparent youki.

Inuyasha suddenly straightened up "Just because we aren't fighting any more, don't think you can tell us what to do! Are you listening to me, Sesshoumaru?!"

Owari Chapter Go

Inuyasha: are you insane?! I would never call a truce with Kouga OR Sesshoumaru!

Amehana: shut up dog boy…

Inuyasha: no, you're crazy damn it!

Amehana: and you haven't figured this out yet?

Inuyasha: …

Amehana: glad I got my point across besides…you have to start getting along with Sesshy SOMEtime because…erm you just…should…

Turns to readers Sorry this is so long…next chapter…the hunt for Naraku is on! Done Done Done!

What will happen next? Will Naraku be defeated? Will anyone die in the fight? Will three new teams get along?

Inuyasha: will this story ever get to the freaking point?

Amehana: YES! hits him anyway stick with me people, it's going to get better, I swear it !

Allow me to explain something my beloved readers now that I think of it. The reason the Yourozoku call Kagome "little sister" is because in Japan if you're close to someone you give them the name of the appropriate family member, cool huh? Same reason Shippo would call Kagome "older sister" and ECT.

Now do me a favor and REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!REVIEW OR DIE!!!!


	7. What I Would Give Up

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and company…does that sound weird or what?

"If you don't live on the edge then you can't see the view." –Author Unknown

Chapter VI– What I Would Give Up

It was coming near– they could all feel it, every one of them. In the way the youki had become a part of their daily senses, in the way the wind blew through the trees and made them shudder, in the way the sky got darker and darker every day…in the way everything just seemed to be off balance; Naraku was getting stronger.

It was on a night during this strange circumstances when our dearly beloved hanyou was sitting in a tree, arms crossed, but the look in his eyes wasn't of anger or stubbornness (as usual)…it was that of pain. His eyes were somewhere far away.

He let the memories replay over and over again in his head, causing his heart to break more and more each time. He let himself contemplate this, because he felt as if he deserved it.

He was punishing himself.

Why? Well for that we would have to know what he had seen recently that was making him fall into this deep guilt.

–Flashback–

"So, Kagome have you thought about my offer?"

Inuyasha heard that voice, and instantly he was filled with rage. He spun around and was about to interrupt the two, and either yell at Kouga for asking such a question or yell at Kagome for sneaking off with the wolf.

But, for reasons unknown, what he saw made him stop.

Kouga was sitting up on a boulder, his legs stretched out in front of him smiling up at the miko.

She smiled back weakly and sat down beside him. Inuyasha was glad she had been walking, which meant she hadn't gone to meet Kouga, it was the other way around– good, so it was the wimpy wolf who was going to receive the thrashing, heh.

Inuyasha found something was willing him not to move; something was making him _want _to hear this conversation. So, naturally, he silently jumped into a tree, supporting himself on all fours, to listen and watch them better.

Kagome looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry Kouga-kun…I…I…I can't be with you, I'm sorry." It had taken her three years to get it out.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, shock overpowering the joy he _should_ have felt instead.

She continued, "I mean, please don't take it personally, I like you as a friend but not like that, I'm sorry…" It started out hasty, spilling from her, then ended with Kagome unable to look him in the eye.

Kouga crossed his arms and looked away, "So you still like dogface, huh?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened, his heart skipped a wild beat, and he almost fell face-first off his branch. But fortunately he dug his claws in the wood to steady his body, one single thought going through his head: 'What?'

"I'm sorry for turning you down…but I…I can't stop…" Kagome's eyes filled with tears and Inuyasha grew rigid on his tree because of it.

Kouga's face softened and he turned and gently wiped Kagome's tears away, "Aw, come on don't cry…I understand…"

"Thanks Kouga." She looked up at him, "You're a great friend, you know."

"So…if you won't be mine…then you'll go with Inuyasha?"

"Iie, he…he's not interested in me…"

Kouga jumped to his feet in a crouch. "Nani!?! Why not? How could he _not_ love you, Kagome?"

She smiled a smile that wasn't really a smile, "That's really sweet… but you overrate me, Kouga."

The hanyou's eyes widened, since when did think Kagome think so lowly of herself?

'Since she met you, perhaps?' a voice inside his head answered, and he didn't even have time argue…or agree.

"Nani?! I do _not_ overrate you, Kagome, dogface is just stupid." Kouga said. And for the first time ever, Inuyasha agreed with him. He bowed his head only to abruptly look up again as he smelt that salty substance mix with Kagome's scent.

Kagome was crying, but she wasn't shaking or sobbing like people usually do when they cry, she let the tears fall freely, as if, as if, she was…used to them…

How many times had Kagome cried over this subject with no one to comfort her?

Kouga leaned over to her, close to her face (too close in Inuyasha's view of course) "Why are you crying, Kagome?" he asked softly.

"Nothing." Kagome answered in a shaky whisper.

Kouga smiled weakly, "Bull shit…you can tell me."

The miko looked up at her friend, then it all spilled out, and Kouga was the confessional of her heartbreak. "There's a another woman he loves, her name is Kikyo, he's always loved her no matter what and he always will. He'll never love me, he never has, I know that… now…"

The wolf prince wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly "I've always known dog-shit is stupid, but I didn't know he was _that_ stupid."

In reply, Kagome laughed, but only because she could find nothing else to do. Kouga's blue eyes that could seem emotionless to some filled with concern, "Listen Kagome, forget Inuyasha, because I'll always be here for you, even if you're not mine, I'll still be your companion, you always have a place among my tribe."

"Thanks." Kagome whispered weakly, deep down she knew that being with Kouga because her first choice was unavailable would be a lie, he deserved better.

Kouga sighed, realizing there wasn't much he could do to comfort her, so he smiled and stood. Once upright, the okami clenched his fist in determination, "Well, since dog-shit is so damn mean to you, I'm not going to give up!"

He smiled down at her, "I _know_ he wants you, but that's too bad for him, I'll win you over and soon, my Kagome." And with that he sped off, leaving Kagome to laugh weakly, wipe her tears away, and then go back to whatever it was that she had been doing before this edict in our saga.

–End flashback–

He loathed himself more than ever this time. Kagome had cried, he made Kagome cry! He had doubted her loyalty, the loyalty that she truly didn't owe him. He had been surprised when she had said she didn't love Kouga; he hated himself for not being relived. Instead he had not believed her all this time when she told him repeatedly that _no_ she did not love the wolf. How ironic.

Kagome believed he loved Kikyo, believed he wouldn't ever love _her_, and that was _his_ fault…he was a horrible person.

Iie, not even a person, a filthy, worthless, half-breed…he knew that now, the thing he had been told that all his life.

And now he believed it.

'I'm sorry Kagome, I'm sorry a million times; I've put you through so much haven't I? And I've never apologized once, I've never told you how much I want you…how much I need you…how much I love you…you don't know that I love everything single thing about you…'

'And how could you? All I've ever been to you is mean…all I've ever done is hurt you and betray you when you've been more than wonderful to me…'

'You stayed here, stayed by my side, and all I ever did was treat you like you were nothing…'

'You never betrayed me…you always forgave me no matter what I did…'

'You never asked me to change for you, in fact, you accepted me as I am…no one's ever done that before…'

'You were always there for me, no matter what…'

'You gave me everything, and you even cried for me…'

'You're everything to me'

'I'm so sorry Kagome'

'I owe everything to you'

'I love you'

'But you'll never know…because I don't deserve you…I don't deserve all these things you've given me…'

'I know that now…if you want to live with Kouga…if that would make you happy…then please do that…if you want to return to your time…then go…if you never want to see me again, I'll understand…'

'I want you to be happy, no matter what.'

'I don't deserve to live, but death is too good for me too…'

'I'm so worthless…I'll always be just that, a worthless half-breed…'

'Wait…half-breed?'

At that Inuyasha pushed his arms hard against the bark of the tree and sprung from his place on the branch, ignoring the pain that came from moving so abruptly from sitting in that one spot after hours.

Soon he found her, all alone, thank kami she wasn't crying anymore, that would probably make him comfort her…and he didn't deserve even to do that either.

"Kagome…"

The addressed girl looked up "Oi hey , Inuyasha," she tried to stop her voice from being so sad. That conversation with Kouga had been all too much of realization for the girl. Even though the wolf he tried to cheer her up by saying that Inuyasha did, in fact, care for her…it hadn't worked.

Kagome blinked in confusion when she saw the look on his face, he looked so…hopeless. And, though it sounded completely insane, his eyes were glassy as if he was going to cry.

Inuyasha sunk to his knees in front of her. "Kagome, what did Kaede-baba suffix for old hag, hahahahahaha say to you before we left this time?"

The young miko blinked again, "Well…she said if we defeat Naraku, then we have to use the jewel so it will disappear…"

"Or?"

Kagome swallowed; she didn't like where this sudden conversation was going, "Or I have to become its protector…like Kikyo once was…"

She sounded just as hopeless as Inuyasha felt at the moment. His arms ached to wrap around her, to hold her close, to keep her body warm, but he fought them, reminding himself he didn't deserve to touch her like that. "Kagome…I know that's not what you want…"

She looked at him emotionlessly, "So, I don't have a choice."

He met her glance, his amber eyes dark with his sadness. "What if you could? …have another choice, I mean."

"Huh?"

"Kagome, if it'll make the jewel disappear so you don't have to become its priestess, then I'll use to become human…"

Seconds passed in silence…

Then Kagome got defensive, "What? No! I won't let you change yourself like that! I know that's not what _you_ want!"

He bowed his head "That…doesn't matter."

"That may just be the screwiest I've _ever_ heard!"

Inuyasha looked up sharply, "I don't care, I don't care what happens to me…as long as you're happy…"

"Why would you care?!" Kagome asked harshly, harsher that she meant it though.

He looked at her, "Because, Kagome, I…"

'Say it!' a voice inside of his head screamed at him.

"You?" he heard a riled-up Kagome provoke.

"I want you to know that I–"

An eerie, high-pitched sound screamed at maximum capacity as the horizon lit up with a bright violet light.

At the noise Inuyasha instinctively wrapped his arms around Kagome and pulled her into his arms protectively, and she let him just as instinctively.

But quickly as he had done it, he pulled away; together they regained their composure jumped up and raced through the forest.

They slid into the camp. Kagome bent down and grabbed her bow and quiver, "It's happened, everyone!" she yelled as loud as she could; Step one of the battle plan.

In a second they were assembled on the ground, with their weapons ready, armor on, and immediately began to move out.

Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Rin mounted Ah-un and took to the skies.

Kouga and the other more powerful okami reverted to their wolf-like forms and started to run towards the light at full speed at Kouga's howl of a command.

Kirara engulfed herself in flames and transformed, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo jumped on her back, while Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's wrist, and she jumped on his back as was regular.

They all ran or flew (or whatever) as fast as they possibly could…it was on…this was the beginning…no turning back now.

Owari Chapter Roku

Amehana: DONE DONE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUSPENCE!!!!!

gasp

What is going to happen? What did Inuyasha want to tell Kagome? Why the heck am I even bothering to write this fic? All this and more answered in the next chapter!!!!!! gives peace sign

Inuyasha: sweat drop yeah…

Amehana: Was this chapter too dry? Cause you know I love detail! growls I want to write some fluff I NEED to write it, but I have to finish this freaking fight with Naraku first.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to continue or not so REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I found a quote by Eminem (really misspelled **that** one) that describes what I think about Kikyo!

Kagome: covers Shippo's ears

Amehana: it's "You selfish !$# I hope you )&#$ burn in & for this !$#"

hahahahahhahahahahahaha I love saying that line with the bleeps because its so funny! If you want to figure them out count the letters & be smart cookies like I know you can be or just listen to "Cleaning out my closet".

I like Emimen…but I don't like Slim Shady…

Miroku: there's a difference?

Amehana: yes,

Miroku: So he's skitso?

Amehana: er…maybe…but Eminem is serious…although I do like "Without me" its funny.

Will someone with smartosity please tell me how to spell his name correctly?!

R.E.V.E.I.W. I personally think it's rude to read a chapter in a fic and _not_ review. So there. I need something to tell me I should go on, right?


	8. The End, And Then The Beginning

Amehana: sigh Alright people, here it goes, the fight begins, I love detail like no other, but I still don't know if I can do this…kami I hope I can…

Disclaimer: I do not Inuyasha…I still won't own them if they live through this chapter or not.

Inuyasha: sarcastic Thanks for the reassurance…

Amehana: No problem! whips out Card Captor Sakura pom-poms GANBATTE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm cheering for you… a safe distance.

Everyone: sweat drop

"It's darkest just before dawn."

–Proverb

The Final Battle, as it would come to be called, raged for days, with no distinction between the light and the darkness of the passing of time.

It took blow after blow of Inuyasha's Kaze No Kizu merely to break Naraku's personal energy barrier, but finally it came crashing apart like pieces of glass meeting their end; breaking into incongruent pieces before dissolving, as if the shield had never been conjured in the first place.

The battle itself seemed hopeless at first, but _something_ pushed them onward.

Perhaps it was the conspicuous fact that Naraku was alone; his progeny and henchmen were not next to him nor were they attacking from a hidden place, as was typical.

Or perhaps it was how Naraku sometimes looked surprise as a blow took a part of him.

Over and over the hits from the distinct weapons of each protagonist flew at first only to be deflected…until…something switched the mood.

Chapter VII– The End, and then the Beginning

Lord of the Rings® opening theme plays from no where in particular, cause L.O.T.R is cool!

Inuyasha stared ahead from the ground– holding onto the hilt of Tetsusaiga, leaning his weight on the massive sword; his only support. His breath came in gasping intervals. The gashes across his back and chest were seeping dark blood through his already red kimono, making his lungs very heavy. His teeth were clenched together, his eyes were hard as he was waiting to gather his strength and force his tired body off the ground.

He may be down, but not out, never out; his stubborn will power took care of that.

No one else had it any easier, but all who were fighting this infamous battle on this infamous day knew that, he or she would neither come out unharmed, nor did they care.

No being had ever fought Naraku before (with the exception of those present) and lived to tell of it. Now, this mismatched band was planning to destroy Naraku and put an end to his rein of evil.

Naraku's red eyes took in the scene around. In front of him –slightly scattered, but still together– was a monk, a demon exterminator, a girl, four youkai, a few remaining okami, a young woman from a future time, and a hanyou. All of them were greatly injured, but each had a fire left in their eyes, an inextinguishable flame. They were ready to attack despite their extreme exhaustion. They were ready to finish this.

Gathering up strength that should not have even been there after fighting for so long, Inuyasha gracefully jumped up into the air and landed at his older brother's side with perfect balance.

His lips moved as he kept his eyes on the enemy. He spoke so softly that, to Naraku, it seemed that he wasn't speaking at all, but Sesshoumaru's canine ears picked up every word that the hanyou uttered. "This isn't _working_, damn it! He just keeps regenerating."

Sesshoumaru didn't spare the half-breed a glance but silently he agreed. "This has gone on for far too long". At that his eyes widened and suddenly were dyed a deep red color. Violet streaks appeared on the sides of his face. He bared his fangs and started to growl deeply.

Inuyasha watched the prince beginning to transform into his true form, wondering, if he threw Tetsusaiga aside, could he himself become a full demon also? The thought was quickly banished from his mind; though it would probably prove it be of assistance in the fight, he couldn't risk turning on his allies. Even The Great Sesshoumaru feared him in that stage; he could smell it.

In the midst of the youkai blood rushing through his veins something pulled Sesshoumaru out of his deep concentration. Demonic markings fading, the inu-oni's eyes fixed the sword still sheathed at his side.

Tenseiga was pulsing. Over and over its image copied itself and rippled out into the night. The Prince of the West contemplated this. This was the second time the healing sword had stopped him from transforming, the first being when he was fighting the Lord of the Cat Demons.

Inuyasha watched too. He remembered that battle with the feline tribe. He & his brother had won.

Suddenly the sibling's eyes met. They knew what had to be done; it seemed now that the battle with the Cat Demons had been a way to tell them how to finally bring down the ultimate villain that they were facing now.

Discreetly, Sesshoumaru nodded once toward his little brother. Inuyasha nodded back, then his amber eyes slid to Kagome. Somehow she read the plan in his eyes, just as Inuyasha had expected. She too nodded. It was set.

With a battle cry to get Naraku's attention Inuyasha charged with his huge fang ready. As predicted, a multitude of fat demonic branches quickly snaked their way to the half-demon. He sliced them in to pieces over and over.

Sesshoumaru almost smiled. His turn. With paralleled grace and speed the youkai lord took to the air and landed in front of a surprised Naraku: none of them had managed to get that close to him so far.

In one mighty slice Sesshoumaru let Tenseiga release its magic on that disgusting creature. As rapidly as he had come Sesshoumaru jumped out of the way when his attack had been administered.

There was an explosion, and when the light cleared, eyes –human and demon alike–widened in shock.

Tenseiga was a weapon of healing, so by assaulting Naraku with it, all the individual demons that created his body had been healed. In other words, the guy was in pieces.

None present had ever seen so many demons in one place before, a hundred strong at least…and each one different. They floated in the air, ubiquitous.

Instantly the things charged our dear protagonists. "Spread out!" Kouga roared amongst the confusion to his fellow wolves, "Kill them all!" Instantly they obeyed.

The Inuyasha group didn't need to be told. Mere minutes passed, and then the bodies of the mismatched goblins littered the ground. So much of their energy had been drained while they had been absorbed in Naraku that the corpses simply dissolved.

The cloud of dust cleared. Now all that was left of the demon that had been conflicting with them for so long was the kneeled body of something that was almost human. His clothes had been torn, the remains hung desperately on his waist. Across his back with a burn mark of a huge spider.

Naraku –Onigumo, so to say, was beaten– He could feel his body dieing, he felt his world darkening. "No, I will not fall like this!" Naraku screamed as he stared at his stone pale, blood-streaked hands. Blood…a mix of both his own and his enemy's.

Slowly, his red eyes, eyes as crimson as the stains on his hands, slid to the top of their sockets, and his head elevated so that they were equally focusing on those who opposed him. His sweat streaked black hair was falling over his face, Naraku's face, full of fury and…fear?

"This will not be my demise…this is NOT the end…" Naraku stated, his voice was shaky.

Kagome stood, and then winced because of her recently twisted ankle, causing her to loose her balance for a second. 'At least my arms aren't broken' She thought as she forced her body to firm.

The young priestess reached behind her to her quiver and strung an arrow on her bow. Kagome's eyes cleared with determination and hatred. Hate, that emotion, so rare in this girl's usually caring eyes. Fortunately, it gave her the much needed strength and confidence to pull off this task.

Kagome flowed miko powers from her fingertips into the wooden arrow, making it glow white with purity. She pulled back on her bow, the string going taught, and took aim at Naraku's heart, well, where it should be, considering he had one.

"This _is_ the end, Naraku!" Kagome released her arrow– a white trail of sparkles flowed from the tip as it quickly flew, piercing the dark world around with a contrasting light.

The arrow accomplished its objective with Kagome's perfect aim. It hit Naraku's heart –its head lodged in his chest– filling his already weak body with powerful light.

The last thing the team ever heard was Naraku's short scream, cut off as his flesh seared in the inescapable illumination, then dissolved into nothing…

…Naraku was dead…

…It was over…

The demon said to be the most powerful on the earth had been defeated. Well, Eki o ga inai good riddance, I think .

Rin walked over to the spot where Naraku had fallen, forcing herself not to stagger as the blood seeped from her numerous wounds.

She firmed herself on the ground, gripping her sword in both hands, holding it out in front of her. Rin closed her eyes, and in seconds, her body began to glow. Then golden energy poured from her then flooded over the ground on which the girl stood. Thus taking care of any of Naraku's remains that may allow him to reform and come back to life.

Rin's eyes closed, then she fell to the ground –unconscious but alive– because she had forced the last of her energy out of her body. Her sword fell softly beside her.

Sesshoumaru looked at everyone, and then sheathed Tojikin. The Demon Prince held Tenseiga over his head. He titled his face up slightly to look at his sword, no emotion on his face, but a secret new respect on the inside for the weapon he once thought of as useless.

A few seconds and the sword began to glow. Then the youkai lord brought Tenseiga down in front of him with a strong force, flooding the black battleground with a blinding light once more.

The light cleared and the group's eyes blinked open. Looking down and around they found themselves completely healed, all wounds gone down to the slightest cut without a trace that blood had ever been drawn.

Sesshoumaru replaced Tenseiga at his side and walked over to Rin, whose body had healed, but it would take awhile longer for her energy to replenish itself.

After sliding her sword into its hilt, Shessomaru slid one arm under Rin's back and the other under her knees– picking up the young woman. Then he started to walk off, holding her against his chest.

"Oi…Shessomaru." Inuyasha said, his voices shattering the silence as he watched his half-brother start to leave towards the west.

Shessomaru turned to look at Inuyasha, though not showing any interest in what he had to say.

"Thanks" Inuyasha said, his eyes holding an ironic seriousness, his silver hair blowing in the wind. Shessomaru simply nodded, turned, and left. Jaken picked up the Staff of the Skulls and ran after his master.

The next to stand was Kouga. He glanced around sadly as the last of his wolf demons devotedly came to his side– their number was few, no less than a dozen. He could not believe, as the okami prince, he had let this happen.

He contemplated in his head he would need to rebuild his tribe…and for that he needed Lady Kagome, of course, who most defiantly agree to be his mate now that Naraku was dead.

Kouga grinned a little as he stepped toward Kagome. His smile melted as he felt Inuyasha's icy glare, which he usually got when trying to make a move on Kagome, but what stopped him was that Kagome did not even look at him, and he knew she could feel his advance on her.

Even with his not-so-brightness, he realized that this was not the time, and he would have to ask Kagome for her hand some other day.

He looked at her and bowed. "I'm leaving now, take care of yourself, Kagome-sama."

Kagome smiled weakly at her friend, not knowing why she was so sad, though. " You too, Kouga-kun".

"I hope to see you again very soon." Said Kouga, and then walked off, in the distance conjuring up a dusty tornado around him which picked up speed, and his wolves followed him back to their homeland.

Moments passed, a silence swept over the remaining crew for reasons unknown.

Slowly…slowly their awkward quiet melted and there was smiles to go around.

They all stood to gather their weapons and Sango gave Kirara the command the transform.

Inuyasha turned to Kagome as she slipped her quiver onto her shoulder. "Daijobu? Are you alright/are you hurt? "

Kagome smiled. "I'm fine." She walked up next to him and whispered something so quiet so that only his ears could pick it up. "Thanks for asking."

He blushed a little, but his lips tinged into one of those rare smiles.

Kagome found herself hoping to see that smile more often, their quest may be over, the Jewel may be back together, and safe around her neck, and their enemies may have been defeated, but that restless feeling that had to be dealt with still lingered in her heart and the heart of everyone else as they flew back to Kaede's village.

The darkness is over, and when the darkness is vanquished, then the light is left, graciously free to take over and cleanse the wounds of the heart.

This is far from over, it is only the beginning.

Owari Chapter Nana

Amehana: So what did you think?! Geez…it was long gomen-nasai but I had to finish all this before so I can really get this thing going! but oh well! sigh of relief now I get to start the plot

Kagome: you mean, the first nine chapters were only filler!?

Amehana: No way! They needed to be in to the story…but now the real stuff starts

Inuyasha: oh god…

Amehana: gives peace sign Now, I'm sorry if this sounded vague and odd, but it was originally my first chapter…oh I just love to write poetically!

Whatever you do, stick with me & PLEASE REVIEW! I need review to keep me writing and make me happy , so REVIEW! Thank you all very much bows Sayonara!


	9. Ironic Aftermaths

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, but I bought the most wonderfulest Inuyasha Wall Scroll at Vintage Stock…dreamy sigh I get to drool ever time I look at my wall now. It's got Inu on it & Kagome & Miroku & Sango & Shippo & Sesshoumaru & Jaken & Bitch Queen From Hell (Kikyo, of course) & the three little elf people from the first movie…& goes on & on

Amehana: wow I'm up to chapter eight! YAY!

I guess that's all for now. Just remember 2 review!

Now, one would believe that once your greatest enemy has been defeated that things would calm down.

You've had your beginning, you've had your journey, you've had your battles, you've had your hard times and you've completed the final battle.

Now is the time for the beloved heroes and heroines to complete their quest and bring things to a close. This is the time for celebration, things quieting down, then riding into the sunset to live happily ever after…right?

Ha.

Funny.

No way! We are talking about the Inuyasha gang! Happily ever after is boring, not to mention conforming, and our antagonists are _far_ from normal!

But, still…

One would at least expect things to calm down, even for these people we love so much with their crazy, abstract lives. You would thing once the greatest enemy has been defeated that there wouldn't be any more battles.

But that wasn't the case for our heroes.

Not in the least. Actually their battles _increased_.

It started out reasonably enough, the usual youkai wanting to get their hands on the Shikon No Tama, believing that it was now in weaker hands and easier to access. (A/N: hahaha wrong!)

It wasn't that bad at first…but then the attacks started to get more and more probable…to the point that they were expected to break out every day, and that can get hard on a person, _very_ hard.

You see, when Naraku had taken the jewel he had tainted it to make it more powerful, of course, and with that the aura of the jewel increased…so it's only natural that more demons would be drawn to it.

Well that's an easy fix, sō? All you need is to purify the darn thing, right?

Wrong.

Kagome _would_ purify it; it's just that she _couldn't_.

Naraku had tainted it badly, so it would need many days, maybe even months, to bring it back to its former, safe, state.

But with an attack on the village every single day, it was impossible to even suggest. Not only did it destroy the time that would be needed, but also, every demon that got control of the jewel soaked it in more evil.

So instead of the jewel being purified, it got more and more evil with each passing blood spilling bout. They thought it would calm down after the first few weeks, but it didn't. This even worried Kaede-sama.

We all are aware that the lives of the Inuyasha characters are far from conformist, but this was getting out of hand.

Even in this story, after the main villain is defeated, it's supposed to get better…

That is…

Unless what we thought was the greatest threat, was really, unknowingly, masking the real evil…

Chapter IIX– Ironic Aftermaths

Kagome wiped sweat from under her black bangs while gasping for breath, right after she unconsciously leaned on the closest thing to her, which just happened to be Inuyasha's shoulder.

She didn't care, she was too tried to care or care if he cared, which he didn't.

The miko was exhausted, of course she was, who wouldn't be after slaying and entire team of assorted centipede demons? About fifty or so, it turned out.

They _all_ were tired: Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, Kagome, and even Inuyasha, who had taken down most of the youkai himself.

Kagome had every right to lean on Inuyasha for support, unlike the rest of them; she had been using both her physical _and_ spiritual strength. Being the only able body miko, she had to purify the demons before they could be slain, and that took life energy.

One demon was bad enough, but fifty, that's fifty times she had to pull out her chi and transform a wooden arrow into a special purity arrow. Actually, more than fifty times, like when she missed. Although, if she missed, she would wordlessly whip out another arrow and pump out more energy for it without fail.

But now that the battle was over, she could no longer keep herself upright.

Inuyasha wrapped a supportive arm around her waist and held her up. He heard her heart rate slowly decreasing from the quickened pace it needed for battle, still, it unnerved him.

That is why –and it wasn't too surprising when it happened– he shot a glare that could pierce flesh at Lady Kaede when she walked up to them. "This is going to kill Kagome, granny." he growled.

"Iie, Inuyasha, I'll be fine, I just need to rest, that's all." argued Kagome weakly.

Inuyasha looked back at her. He sighed and gracefully bent down a bit to wrap his spare arm under Kagome's legs and then he moved the other securely across her back and lightly picked up the girl, cradling her to his chest.

Kagome gave no protest and laid her head against him, slowly closing her eyes.

"Aye, 'tis harming the child as we all can see, but nay young hanyou, Kagome is strong she'll pull through this."

"I know that!" He snapped, then looked back at the girl in his arms "But I don't want her to push herself over the edge, if she uses up all her energy, then, she'll die…" The very thought scared him, although he kept the same distant look in his eyes. With another glare he looked back at the old miko in front of him, "And I know she'd do it to protect this damn village." Inuyasha growled.

Kaede stood firm against his threats, her old gray eyes still. She knew he merely wanted to protect the girl. "Ye are correct Inuyasha, and that is why I have come to ye five at this hour, something needs to be discussed."

"Damn right I'm right." Inuyasha muttered, which earned him a glare from both Sango and Miroku.

They followed Kaede back to her hut where they all painfully sat down awaiting treatment, and Inuyasha carefully laid Kagome down on a palette, glancing over her sleeping form after he did so. Her body was streaked with blood like everyone else's but fortunately (more like amazingly) nothing was broken.

A girl from the village helped Sango up to go clean the blood away in a spare room, one came to help Miroku –after slapping him when he grouped her butt as a greeting, of course– and another came to tend to Kagome, under Inuyasha's narrowed eyes.

"What was it you needed to discuss with us, Kaede-sama?" asked Miroku.

"First ye all need some rest, especially young Kagome, I shall return tomorrow." She glanced over at Inuyasha. "Will ye not let this kind girl tend to ye Inuyasha?"

The hanyou snorted and looked away. "_I_ don't need it."

The old miko sighed and shook her head. "Very well then, come now girls, take leave, lets give these weary guardians some rest."

Inuyasha made up his mind, and silently jumped down from his tree and walked back into Kaede's hut, once inside he followed Kagome's scent to the farthest room down the hall to where she had been moved earlier.

Everyone was asleep now; preparing their bodies for the battle that would most likely come tomorrow. Attacks on the village were so frequent recently, the group (being the only ones in the village with real demon slaying abilities) barely got any rest.

It was hard on them, but they continued to protect the village and its people day after day. Why these sudden attacks? Well, word that the Shikon Jewel had been completed had gotten around. Also it was commonly whispered that the sacred relic resided in quite, unarmed village, and was in the care of a little girl, no more than eighteen.

None of the attackers expected the village to fight back, or that this "little girl" had extraordinary powers, along with her close companions.

The hanyou slid the door open to step in the dark room and carefully shut it again. He crept over to where Kagome was sleeping, without making a single sound.

Once at her side, he crouched on all fours to study the girl before him he cared so much about. He would admit it now –to himself at least, though it had been obvious to the others long before– that he cared about her.

He still could catch the scent of blood on her, but barely; she was healing fine. But he had no way of telling what her energy level was.

The inu-oni tucked a stray lock of raven hair behind Kagome's ear, and then caressed her face, careful not to cut her with his claws. He smiled softly.

Kagome stirred and opened her eyes; somehow she wasn't freaked out by his figure in the darkness.

Inuyasha quickly drew his hand away. "Sorry."

"Iie, its fine." The miko forced her body to sit up. "Thanks for carrying me back here."

He shrugged slightly. "No big deal."

"Yes it is, you know you can be really sweet sometimes, Inuyasha."

The hanyou rolled his eyes.

Kagome smiled knowingly. "Even if you hate to admit it." She looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry, I tried not to faint… but I did, and you were probably worse off than I was, and I bet I embarrassed you, I'm–"

Inuyasha gently placed a clawed finger to her lips to show her she had absolutely nothing to apologize for. Then he silently removed his finger only to carefully pick her up and place her in his lap. Kagome sighed happily and snuggled into his warmth. Ah, these peaceful moments between them, she wished they could last forever and ever.

With a slight smile on his face, Inuyasha leaned against the back wall, holding her close to him. He slowly fell asleep after he knew she was, breathing in her sweet scent all the while.

Owari Chapter Hachi

Amehana: well the ending was kind of sweet…but do you get it? Naraku tainted the Jewel too much so now all demons want to get a hold of it…because they're just greedy like that…

I suppose that's it for now, meh, it was short, I'll work on that.

Be sure to review!

Word to your mother

–Amehana


	10. Future Fates

Amehana: erm…not much to say, just R&R to make me happy, because "Happy women make a happy village" says Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke but…we don't live in a village…

Monty Python God: Get On With It!

Amehana: whateva

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha…but my Inuyasha boxed set #1  came in! Finally! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Onward to chapter nine! Here it goes! crosses fingers I don't like the first couple of lines but it gets MUCH better soon.

Chapter IX– Future Fates

They waited, but thank the gods, it never came.

No youkai attacked the next day; still the Inuyasha team didn't let their guard down.

Too many lives had been taken in that last attack, that's why certain ties within the five had pulled together the last night, reached out for the feelings in each other's hearts that they could fall back on. They knew they were there without question.

Nothing was said when Inuyasha and Kagome emerged from the back room together (A/N: no they didn't do anything you pervs! not yet at least .) nor when they found Sango sleeping under the security of Miroku's arm around her shoulders, both of them looking quiet peaceful before they were woken up.

…The world outside was dark and dismal.

Last night after the battle, all of them had barely gotten to examine the damage inflicted on the village by that hoard of demons yesterday, before they were steered off to Kaede's hut in order get their wounds treated.

But, their hearts were heavy, and somehow they knew: the outcome of that battle wasn't good. True, they had come out the victors, but after many hours of tireless battling, the only thing that had kept their bodies from buckling over and collapsing on the ground was sheer adrenalin. That couldn't be good for the rest of the village.

Although… Inuyasha saw it. He had started to sleep outside like he usually did, but found he couldn't. One reason being he felt the need to make sure Kagome was properly healed. The second was deeper than the first; the cries of the villagers for loved ones lost was too much for his heart to take.

He could hear them all night: The screams and the cries of _no_…and _why?_, villagers grieving in the dark. They did not understanding why the gods would do this to them…The miseries of the humans rang in his sensitive ears all night. All the while he held Kagome closer, thanking whatever divine power might be up there that he wasn't joining those in mourning.

The humans, they'll rebuild their homes and somehow, someday, go on with their lives. But, if Inuyasha lost Kagome, it would be the end for him, she was everything– and without her, he was nothing. He would have nothing to live for, simple as that.

It may have been morning, but whom could tell? The darkness outside was equal to the sadness clouding the hearts of our heroes. So they woke, bathed, and dressed without a word between them.

Crematory fires had been built up during the brink of the night, and were just now dieing down.

The village people gathered by the biggest river that was nearest the town, all of them dressed in the white color of mourning, the color of a new beginning. (A/N: that's what it is in China, so I'm making a guess) and bearing glowing rice-paper lanterns, names of the deceased painted in the formal Kanji across the delicate paper.

Kagome swallowed and took her place near the edge of the river in between Kaede and Miroku. She was wearing the traditional priestess kimono, the red skirt and white shirt with long flowing sleeves interlaced with red trim, and her raven hair was tied in a white ribbon at the back of her neck.

Some of the villagers, mostly children, walked to the dark blue river and set their lanterns atop the water, then stood to watch as the slow current carried the floating lights away.

The rest of the village residents stood behind the monk and two priestesses at a respectful distance, Sango among them, Kirara sitting obediently on her master's shoulder.

Inuyasha leaned against a tree, near the river but separated from the villagers, watching with clouded amber eyes and arms crossed inside the sleeves of his haori.

Shippo stood with him, since his beloved older sister figure Kagome had to be part of the ceremony; he stayed with the next closest person he trusted, which was Inuyasha, unknown to the hanyou himself.

The sky was gray, no sun could be seen, a cold wind hung in the air; the world itself seemed to have given up its usual bright glory to mourn with those present. It might as well have been night.

It's easier to mourn in the dark anyway.

Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from staring at "his" Kagome. He knew somehow that she didn't want to be a part of this, who would? She would have been ill prepared too, if she hadn't spent some of her spare time studying Kaede's scriptures only scarce days before the attack.

Yesterday's attack… it hadn't been the first, it had just been the most fatal; the most homes had been destroyed and the most lives had been taken.

Yet every life was special, and none of the humans had deserved to die. Some of them were even children, who hadn't even lived long enough to commit any crimes.

That was the deal with mindless youkais, they not only killed who opposed them, but slaughtered any who were in front of their goal.

Why did the mindless have to be so strong that they were easily turned into uncontrollable killing machines? And why did the innocent have to be so weak and defenseless? It just didn't seem right.

The wind blew, causing the white colored kimonos to flow, in contrast to the dark world around. It was hard for all of them, after all these years they had come to know the village, not know the people themselves but the village as a whole, which was alright for them.

That is why Sango, Shippo and Inuyasha dawned their usual, more colorful clothing, but joined the ceremony all the same. Even Miroku wore his usual black and purple monk robes, although he was going to help give the ceremony, it seemed unnecessary for these companions who were often traveling to not dress out for the occasion.

Yet they came all the same. Out of respect for the dead? No one knew. Maybe they came because they needed to see the ceremony to help with the heaviness in their hearts that had come unbidden to them and without reason.

Somehow, they all felt small sliver of guilt deep within themselves, they had stopped the youkai, but in their eyes, not soon enough. And somehow, they could feel that some of the villagers _did_ blame them, having no other scapegoat.

But none of the fighters blamed the villagers for their scorn, it was simply the folly of humankind: people must find something to blame a crisis on and make sure that a punishment is carried out before they can allow their hearts to be healed.

Out of the corner of her eye Kagome saw Kaede give a slight nod and place her hands together, so the younger miko mirrored the gesture, placing her hands together and lacing her fingers together, crossing her thumbs over each other and paralleling her two index fingers and holding her arms firm in front of her chest, Miroku did that the same on his own, the placement of their hands allowing their holy energy to be channeled.

In sync the monk and two priestesses closed their eyes and bowed their heads a little. Then they started a barley audible chant in ancient Osakan (A/N: I do believe that's an older Japanese tongue or something) dialect.

There was a shift in the world around, the wind picked up and blew their hair and long robes. All the while they kept up their passive chant.

A melancholy silence swept over the scene, and then quietly, the air around filled with an unbalanced multitude of bright spherical lights.

A small girl hid behind her mother's leg. "What are they, okasan mother ?" she whispered.

The mother softly explained to girl what the lights were, and some of villagers who didn't know either listen. Their eyes widened as they were enlightened. But the team of Inuyasha and his friends required no explanation; they had seen them often enough. The lights evoked deep and hard memories. Kikyo used to steal them before they could reach the next world; either Heaven or Hell. Either would be better than being trapped in a dead shell, spending eternity screaming out for peace.

They were the un-resting souls of the dead.

One by one the souls rose to the dark sky, guided by the powerful words of the holy vassals' present. Far above they collected, in an organized swirl radiating from one point. As more souls rose up the spiral and disappeared, more joined at the base, and repeated until no more collected at the bottom.

The wind died down as Miroku, Kaede, and Kagome stopped their hushed chant, and they opened their eyes in complete unison, they turned to watch the rest of the souls ascend to be judged, hoping they would receive peace, for they had prayed for that too.

Slowly, some in awe, some struck in horror, the crowd departed in straggly lines, some crying, others praying, some held their children close to them either for the children's support, or their own, it was hard to tell. Some of the villagers had their arms around each other.

One woman, her whole body weak from dejectedness and somewhat slumped over, her face sad and her eyes dark, walked slowly back to the village.

But she stopped when she happened to pass Inuyasha and Shippo in their indolent stance against the tree. She stopped and looked up at them, suddenly her body completely straightened, her face shifted from to one of pain to one of sheer anger.

"You" she said, her voice dripping with disgust and hate.

Her voice made Inuyasha shift his ever-watchful gaze from Kagome to the rigid form beside him, and he caught the great disapproval in her voice.

Inuyasha gave absolutely no regard to her; he remained stoic under her icy glare.

The woman continued. "You…you did this!" she whirled back on the departing crowd, then raised her voice to a yell. Without turning around to even address them, she pointed behind her to the stone-still Inuyasha and Shippo leaning next to him, his height to just above the hanyou's knee, he looked as if he wanted to hide behind Inuyasha, but he was older now, so he tried to mirror Inuyasha, but wasn't doing near as good a job.

"It's _their_ fault! Their kind did this! Others just like them killed your families and destroyed your village! They don't deserve to be here!" she switched to a hiss. "We can't trust _them_."

Finally she turned back to the two demons. "You don't belong here"

A younger girl bravely walked up behind the woman, put an arm around her shoulder and wheeled her away, not daring to glance at either Inuyasha or Shippo out of fear. The woman gave in, made a snotty "humph" in her nose and turned away from the demons she had just publicly insulted.

Inuyasha heard whispers in his keen ears, some of denial, but most of agreement with the woman's shouts.

The inu-oni never once broke indifferent stature; he simply blinked once and looked away. Shippo let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding.

Inuyasha caught a rise in Kagome's aura. He looked up slightly to her. Her eyes were narrowed in a deathly glare at the woman's back, and her fists were clenched so hard he caught blood seeping from her balled hands. He knew she was angry for insulting Shippo, but something inside told him she was mainly mad at the woman's offense of _him_, and that calmed his own hidden fury behind his mask he had put up.

Kagome tried her best to make her way to Inuyasha while being stopped by the villagers, either to be thanked for sending away the souls of the dead or to answer a question, which she had to stop and rack her brain for the correct information to answer. So by the time she got there, most of the crowd had departed, and Shippo had long since gone over to Sango and Miroku.

"Inuyasha, don't listen to one thing that damn woman said!" the miko said when she finally reached him.

The hanyou raised his eyebrows, Kagome never cursed, only when she was very angry or agitated. Apparently what that crude woman had said to him really unnerved her. "I never do." He replied smoothly.

Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Thanks for caring"

"Of course I do!" Kagome said but quickly abandoned that for a gasp and a blush as Inuyasha took her hands in his and gently licked away the blood from her rage-driven, self-inflicted wounds.

When his work was done and he stopped straightened he looked at her. "That should help it heal."

"Arigato, Inuyasha" Kagome said somewhat shyly as she held her hand in the other, never taking her eyes from his.

In the background, Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kirara exchanged confused glances; apparently their friends had a secret that wasn't too much of a secret. Still, it _was_ a secret, and that just had to be changed.

Miroku made an "Ahem" in his throat, Sango rolled her eyes and muttered "Really subtle there, houshi-sama" to which he grinned slightly in reply.

At that Inuyasha and Kagome suddenly broke their eye contact and turned away blushing.

Miroku set his head on his palm, his blue eyes full of worry. "So what your saying, Kaede-sama, is that we need to find someone who can make the jewel nonexistent…forever".

"Ay" was her simple reply.

"But…we're not exactly sure how to go about this, right?" asked Sango.

"Also correct, aren't you two a pair" Kaede returned.

They ignored the innuendo; instead they just went back to staring at the burning fire.

Seconds passed. "But…we have an idea right?" Kagome suggested, doubting her own words as she spoke.

"Yes…that is correct…I do believe that if a demon uses the jewel to turn human then it'll disappear" The older miko answered.

At that Kagome gulped and realized what she had just hinted to was far too close to home. Inuyasha. Duh.

The unspoken subject of the conversation swallowed a little too. "I suppose…I guess…I" he sighed and looked down "I don't know" Inuyasha confessed.

Kaede smiled warmly, but pain was behind those gray eyes of hers. " 'Tis alright, young hanyou, it's much too big a decision to make and one ye should never had to face…ye must not pressure thyself ".

The addressed nodded slowly.

Miroku decided to be candid for a moment, for he coolly said, "So I guess that means

you're not going to turn into a full demon, Inuyasha".

Surprisingly, the inu-oni didn't explode; just bravely looked up to meet the monk's eyes "No. When I transformed I almost killed you guys…besides it's cheating…" he looked at his claws as if they were drenched in blood, as if the youkai blood in his veins was taking over this very second, as if his killing instincts were in full control and driving his every thought and movement. "If I can master this…then I'll really be a full demon…"

Breaking the silence Kaede said with a slight, all knowing smile "Ye are a noble one, Inuyasha".

"But we've always known that" Kagome added with a smile of her own.

The half-demon looked away.

Sango smiled too. "Yeah, just don't practice on purpose".

They all laughed…but the nervousness, fear, and confusion for the future lingered in their hearts.

Owari Chapter Kyū

Amehana: yayayayayay the beginning's over! Next chapter is the BIG turning point done done done

I guess that's all just…REVIEW!


	11. Awakening What Is Dormant Within

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I write fan fiction. If I owned Inuyasha would I be writing this? No! It would already be in the plot line! So don't ask me! Even if you didn't ask me in the first place!

Amehana: hehehehe here we go…get ready…

Shippo: gulp what are you gonna do to us?

Amehana: oh I'm not going to do anything to _you_ dear

Shippo: you can be scary sometimes…

Amehana: hehehehe cracks knuckles Lets do this…

Be sure 2 read this intro, its VERY important, you will be a confused ninny if you skip it!

There must have been something wrong with the girl.

Because she hadn't been sleeping very well lately…

On one particularly edgy night she had a dream…

It was a good dream, the only one in months, or the only one in months that she could remember. It was one of those beautiful dreams that are so real, you are sure that it's not just a dream.

It was pretty too, like a painting set before her, a very detailed painting that was so expertly drawn so that each feature was perfect, not like other dreams that are blurry and confusing.

And yet…she knew all that, but she couldn't remember exactly _what_ the dream was about. She knew it was important, and she could remember the feeling that came with it; that happy, bubbly feeling. Bits and pieces was all she could suffice in the morning, as if the dream had been stored in her memory; not to be tapped into until the time was right.

The dream was like a show you see on T.V. that could never happen in real life because of the hyped-up-ness of it all. She could recall that. On those shows each actor seems perfect for their part, that's what makes it all more believable. But, then again Kagome sometimes thought her life was worse than the drama that one would see on T.V., and it had no happy ending in site.

But dreams such as those, like the delicate rose has its thorns, are not compatible with reality. For no matter how wonderful they are, no matter how happy they make you feel, they are the worst because when you wake up, you realize what is true, and you want bury your face in your hands and cry because it's not really there…

Still, it lingered in the back of her mind; she never forgot one single detail of the instances that she could remember when she had awoken.

For some reason it wouldn't leave her.

She had read somewhere, sometime, that restless sleep comes with a nervous mind…

Chapter X– Awakening What Is Dormant Within

Once again, Kagome woke with a start, but this time she wasn't scared like in the scared in the few seconds after you wake up from a nightmare and the haunting images are still lingering in your head. It was a worse kind of scared– when you know the flame of your terror was flared from something _outside_.

She jumped up from her palette with amazing speed, and ran down the hall of the townhouse where the team was residing.

Lady Kaede had already beaten her outside by the time she was there, The old woman had the best poker-face of anyone Kagome knew, well, besides Inuyasha, but the look on her old face was one of sadness, a sadness that said she had expected this all along.

"Kaede-bachan suffix for grandmother ?" Kagome whispered, unable to ask any more as she came up behind the old woman, walking out into the night.

The older miko didn't turn to address her, just nodded once to let her know she had heard and continued to stare at the very thing that had yanked Kagome from her sleep:

The sky was screaming in the eerie way the Shikon No Tama did, and thousands of slivery-lavender streaks came from beyond the afar trees from some unseen radius…

Unseen but not unknown.

In the next second Kagome found herself surrounded by her friends: Inuyasha, Shippo, Sango, Kirara, and Miroku all had joined the two mikos. All of them were staring at the site ahead.

"Go." Kaede said softly.

Kagome looked at her, confused.

"Go…you will know what to do when you get there." The old woman said in the same quiet, clam, tone with worry hidden in it.

"Is it…?" Sango questioned slowly.

"Hai. Now go." Kaede answered. Then she turned slightly to address Kagome. "I trust you with this task".

"I…" the younger miko retuned uncertainly.

"Go!" this time it wasn't soft, it was harsh and very unlike the old woman, and it was all they needed to get them running as fast as their heels could fly through the forest ahead.

Before she even knew what was happening, Kagome found herself running alongside her companions, Inuyasha's clawed hand firmly grasping her wrist. The world around was a mere blur as if he was transferring his own speed to her as they ran. (A/N: like the way Haku runs with Chihiro on _Spirited Away_ , hehe).

Something about the way Kaede had looked made Kagome think that whatever happened tonight was going to drastically change the future; it wasn't too outrageous if you considered the lifestyle of her and her friends. The obasan's dark eyes had been hard and she seemed stiff, resisting, even angry. Angry, perhaps, because there was nothing she could do? Kagome forced the thought out of her mind and put up a brave face, she was going to need it.

Only seconds apart from each other they slid into the clearing, and there they stopped frozen in their tracks at what they saw.

There, as expected, was the Shikon, the crying sound it was making louder than it had been back at the townhouse, considering the fact that they were now so near the source. Shippo covered his sensitive ears, wincing a little, one eye closed, the other watching as intently as it could in the near blinding light.

The Jewel itself was floating in the air, suspended somehow. If one of them were to walk up it would've been right at reaching level, but none dared.

For they were not alone.

There, in front of them was someone that they had only vaguely put together mentally with their mind's eye when learning about her…

Midoriko.

She was a sight to behold. Her raven black hair fell to the back of her knees, her stance was proud and authoritative, but the emotion behind her eyes was tired as if she been alive for far too long (which she had).

Blood stained her the skin that was exposed, for her fighting gi (A/N: for those of you don't know, that's an oriental outfit used for fighting, it is a jacket, pants and possibly a shirt, you see them everywhere in Anime) was torn by claws of demons that would never cease their fury, and what was left of her armor was cracked and wouldn't provide a shield much longer.

The old fashioned katana in her hand was covered in scratches and had seen far too many battles.

Her facial expression was one of involuntary weakness that comes with being human, her eyes were dark green, haunting and beautiful…they had probably been light once, but no longer.

She looked about in her late twenties age wise. Apparently in whatever realm she had been fighting in, she didn't age.

It had always been prophesized that Midoriko was continuing her raging war with the youkai that had attacked her more than a century ago _inside_ the Shikon Jewel.

According to the legend of the Shikon No Tama, as a last effort to end her battle, Midoriko forced her own soul out of her body, trapping the demons inside. It hardened, forming the spherical crystal that had caused so many so much trouble.

The priestess hadn't expected to fight forever when she had formed the jewel.

She stood before them, a woman long past her fighting years internally. A person who did not seem to care that she was causing a great disturbance.

Finally, she spoke to them, "It has come to this". Her voice showed none of the drowning weakness that she must have been feeling in the inside.

She continued in that same voice. "It has been far too long, and now it will end. Here. I have been fighting this battle for more than one hundred years and it will come to end… lest the world cease to exist". Somehow she seemed to know that the people in front her understood who she was and her position.

Kagome gathered her courage and swallowed so she could speak clearly, finding her throat had gone dry at the sight in front of her. "What do you mean?"

At her voice Midoriko's mood shifted to an ironically warm one; she smiled the best she could. "Young priestess, ye have and will do great things with the gift thy have been given, and 'tis your own".

Kagome blinked in confusion. She grasped a portion of the haunting woman's words, causing her to bow her head toward the ground, "It has be decided tonight…doesn't it?" she whispered, forgetting for a short moment that she wasn't alone. For a long while Kagome had been keeping a secret; somehow she knew that something was going to happen.

"Yes…and no" Midoriko said softly.

Kagome looked up to meet the specter's frightening eyes. She forced herself to say, "What do you mean?" once more. She had to force herself not because she was afraid of her surroundings, but because she was afraid to find out what was to come.

"Hear me now, the Jewel has been tainted in much too much darkness of late, and now it must be destroyed, for it is far beyond purification now…therefore, something must be done to stop the evil aura from coming from it, for this recent madness will do no longer."

"I don't quiet understand…" Kagome said steadily. The person in front of her was quite vague, she realized.

"'Tisn't as complicated as it seems, ye must have the jewel give something unto you". Midoriko answered.

The younger miko gulped slightly; she didn't like the sound of that.

Unmoved, Midoriko continued. "The fate of the jewel…my fate…the world's fate…it will acted upon tonight."

"And what if it isn't?" Miroku bravely stepped in.

Midoriko turned to the monk, and gave him a look of sheer disproval.

She turned back to Kagome with a reassuring smile as if she sensed a change in the younger priestess. "But worry not, 'tisn't thy fault…this could not be changed no matter what ye did".

Kagome nodded slowly with uncertainty.

Midoriko turned her head back to the others as a streak of blood slowly fell down her face. "If the Jewel is not dealt with this night…the demons I imprisoned in it so many years ago, will be set free".

She paused a moment to let the news sink in as she watched their eyes widen. "They are much worse than those you or any of those who have came before you have ever encountered…and they shall never die."

Midoriko continued. "The depths of the Jewel's power are still unknown, even to myself. So I doubt it will ever be completely understood, which is not shadow, for it will not matter after tonight…not even the Gods themselves have any idea what would happen if a power of that of the youkai trapped in the Jewel would be released upon this defenseless time."

No one said anything.

"One can only imagine the horrors." Midoriko was talking lightly, but the context of her words wasn't so weightless.

No one present even wanted to do that.

Tense moments to contemplate passed. Until Inuyasha spoke up first, "So what are we going to do?"

Midoriko looked at him, her expression clearly one of disapproval. "Ye will do nothing, hanyou".

Her eyes, slid over to Kagome, "Only _ye_ can affect the outcome of this, young priestess, being what you are."

The addressee's eyes widened a little; her mind flashed the images of the dream she had had just hours before, over and over clearly in her head, and for some unknown reason, she _liked_ what she saw. The traces of the dream brought her comfort, and her eyes returned to normal a few seconds after, once she comprehended.

She took a breath. "I understand."

Suddenly Inuyasha had an epiphany just in time. He couldn't turn human? He couldn't do anything?! Iie…only Kagome had the power to use the jewel.

Midoriko interrupted his thoughts with a simple "Good. The priestesses placid and enchanting voice flowed in the space around them as the breeze rose and blew the world around in a soft gale, as she spoke a few words in an ancient oriental language to start the spell.

"Wait" Kagome said composedly.

Midoriko did so respectively.

"So…what will happen to you?"

She smiled. "I appreciate your concern young one, for your kindness is limitless…my soul will finally be set free, and I will rest in peace."

Miroku opened his mouth to speak but Midoriko struck in before he could utter a single word. "Nay, no mound need be raised for me…those funeral rights are unnecessary." He was just doing his job.

Then something entered Kagome's mind. "So…the Shikon No Tama won't disappear?" she knew she was asking a rhetorical question.

Midoriko smiled reassuringly. "Nay, for that it will be needed later, but its youki will vanish, so no more youkai will be drawn to it."

Sango glared. "No more demons will be drawn to it, but that doesn't mean they won't _hear_ about it".

Midoriko glared at the slayer with superiority. "Would you rather these attacks continue at the same rate as they have been recently? And then just to have a new threat emerge?"

The huntress said nothing.

"I thought as much" and with that said, the century-old priestess placed her hands in front of her chest as if she were holding an invisible ball.

How could she be so damn calm about this?!, the half-demon among them wanted to know as his eyes formed a glare that could quite possibly melt ice. No one really knew what was happening. Apparently Midoriko was going to be set free, but that wasn't _their_ problem. The only thing that seemed clear at the moment was that something was going to happen to the Shikon No Tama so that the onslaught of demons on it and on the village would decrease. They were going to clear its aura to make it less appetizing and conspicuous to passing youkai, somehow, and that _somehow_ was a something that would directly affect Kagome. Whatever was going on, it was really pissing him off.

Midoriko smiled at Kagome. "I will awaken what is dormant within you; what you long for. This will help you along in the tasks to soon come and those in your future. And know this young one, you are you and never let the words of others tell you otherwise."

Then –not for the first time this night– Kagome's eyes widened as her mind flashed something.

With words Midoriko confirmed her thoughts, "I know what ails you, and I wish you luck. Perhaps it will come with what I am about to bestow."

Kagome didn't quite understand, but it was too late.

Before she herself or her friends around her could breath their next breath to question, intervene, or even protest, Midoriko had sent the power that would rid of her task of battling the demons in the Shikon, and that would do her will. It was a beam of white light from the circle her hands had shaped, and it was aimed straight at Kagome.

The last thing the girl heard was someone (or some ones) screaming her name before her eyes shut and her world went completely dark. She blacked out.

Inuyasha caught Kagome in his arms before her unconscious form could hit the ground, he was so caught up in his fear for her life he didn't she what the others saw.

Midoriko let out her breath and allowed her eyes to close for the first time in countless years, and for the last time. Then she disappeared, her image dissolving, silhouetted against the peaked light of the Shikon Jewel.

After Midoriko was gone the Shikon screamed it's loudest, then glowed brighter and brighter until the valley was quickly engulfed in a blinding light.

They shielded their eyes as the Jewel fell it the ground, no longer animated. The racket it had been causing stopped suddenly.

Moments passed, the jewel's evil aura disintegrated along with Midoriko's own aura, and slowly, they all blinked their eyes open.

In the next second the cohorts had surrounded Inuyasha, looking at Kagome in his arms –still unconscious– with distress and concern in their eyes.

"What's happening to her, Inuyasha?!" Sango all but screamed.

"Is she going to be okay?!" Shippo whined with equal fear.

The hanyou was just as afraid as they were. "I…I have no idea…her scents changing too fast, Midoriko did something to her…" he had forced the words out of his mouth.

Miroku somehow took control of his trepidation before anyone else did.

"Well, it's no use staying here, let's get her to Kaede-sama, now!"

As the others ran back to the village, which may or may not have held hope, Shippo remembered something. He stopped and walked back to where the Shikon Jewel had fallen softly to ground after such a magnificent display.

It was cool to the touch as his little palm picked it up, and it glowed no longer.

The kit glared at it. "You've caused a lot of trouble, you know, and if you've hurt Kagome…I'll…er…" He felt stupid addressing an object, but he went on anyway.

"I'll break you into a million pieces."

He placed it around his neck than dropped on all fours and ran as fast as his little legs could go to follow the others.

Owari Chapter Jū

Amehana: hahahahaha evil cliffhanger! What happened to Kagome? What is it that the Shikon Jewel will be needed for in the future? And just what did Midoriko mean by "I will awaken in you what is dormant within you"? You'll have to R&R to find out!

Oh! Let me explain something. There is a debate over _what_ Kaede's hut looks like. Well I think I've seen Inuyasha® enough to know that it is a small one-roomed space with a window, a fire pit in the middle an bamboo straw mat hanging in the doorway, and it has two levels…yes I am obsessed…so why is the house in my fic bigger with separate rooms & halls & stuff?

Well…I decided I needed those things so here's the sitch…they are staying in the village townhouse, which is big and right in the center of the village.

They are there because Kaede is there, and the poor dears don't have houses of their own…which is tragic…but anyway, Kaede is there because she can heal and help people and with all the attacks; she had to stay there to help a bunch of different people at once.

So…it's being used as temporary hospital.

I guess that's all, and remember my wonderful, beloved readers…REVEIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	12. A Simple Twist Of Fate

Disclaimer: (ahem) dis-'klā-mer _n_ 1**a**: a denial or disapproval of legal claim **b**: a writing that embodies a legal disclaimer.

Got it? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, whoo I'm funny…

Source: Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

Tenth Edition

Page 330

Chapter XI– A Simple Twist Of Fate

Her eyes slowly blinked open, resisting the light of the day that was streaming through the window of the room, or wherever it was that she was lying in. She had no idea of her whereabouts herself.

The world around came into sharp focus faster than it should've, but she wasn't alarmed by it, for some reason.

Neither was she alarmed by the presence of another in the room, she felt the aura first, something she had learned to do some time ago. It was that of a youkai…but then something _else_ confirmed it…

Was it scent?

No…that couldn't be right…but still…

Kagome shielded her eyes from the daylight that was illuminating the room with her arm. She groaned slightly and sat up, and then was surprised she could do so without all the blood rushing to her head making her sick.

She looked to her side at the amber colored eyes that were soaking up her form with concern clearly shining in them.

She smiled –doing so finding her lips sliding across something that wasn't there before, but she brushed the suspicion aside for the time– "Oi Inuyasha".

Then she choked and tried to gulp after talking; her throat was dry and scratchy. Apparently she had been out for a while.

She caught him sigh, then he pushed a mug in her hands. "Here, Kaede-baba said to drink this". Inuyasha said softly.

Kagome smiled again –gratefully this time– then drained it greedily. It tasted like cinnamon and Camille tea, and it washed her vocal chords so she could speak again. Somehow she caught some unknown herb in it that must've been medicinal because it cleared the groggy feeling that was weighing her down at the time.

Then, as she swallowed the last bit, her eyes shot open in reaction to the memories of what had happened last night flooded back into her conscious mind. The Shikon No Tama going over the brink. Midoriko. A flash of light, then…

She slammed the cup down on the floor; cracks webbed out from the base at the impact. "Oh my God, what happened, Inuyasha?! Are you alright?! is everyone else alright?! Where's The Jewel?! Is Midoriko gone?! I-I blacked out! What happened?!"

In reply he gulped nervously. "I…um…" he looked away as if to get help from some invisible other in the room.

Finally he looked back at her and sighed feudally. "_We're_ alright…Kagome."

The girl blinked and clamed down. She didn't like the way he put the emphasis on "we're". Then it came back to her. Midoriko had to do something to _her_ to cleanse the Jewel.

"She did something to me…didn't she?" It was more of a statement than a question.

The hanyou nodded slowly.

Kagome glared slightly at his caution, getting annoyed that he was afraid to tell her. "What is it?"

"Well, the good news is that Midoriko is gone, the jewel is at the temple because Kaede said it's still too dangerous for you to wear all the time, and we haven't had an attack for a while."

She continued to glare irritably. "Inuyasha, that's not what I asked."

Then she blinked and her anger melted as she realized something bad must have happened for him to be so cautious. "So…what's the bad news?"

Inuyasha sighed again. "Kagome…" He rubbed the back of his neck in uncertainty as he spoke.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but…" he stopped his gesture.

Then he took her hand in his. Kagome blinked at him in confusion but found no answer in his eyes, so she looked down instead.

Her eyes widened in sheer shock.

She had claws! She stared at her hand as if it was Inuyasha's and not hers. No, it was most defiantly hers for she could tell his from hers with ease, so…

'What the hell!' she mentally screamed.

Kagome held her hand in front of her face and then the other with wide eyes of confusion. Yep. Claws. Each of her fingers was tipped with a white, semi-long, sharp talon that eloquently curved like normal fingernails at the base then came to a point at the tip. Just like Inuyasha's.

They were kind of cool, but she forced that thought out of her mind. 'This is not cool, this totally freaky!!!'

Kagome looked up to lock eyes with the demon at her side. "Inuyasha…?" she whispered weakly.

He gulped, leaned back in that way he always does when he's afraid (but he'd never admit that), and his eyes unconsciously traveled to the top of her head.

Her hands followed his eye's path, starting at the sides of her head. 'What in the seven hells is going on here?!' she silently shrieked as she touched her skin.

Her ears were gone. Not there. Just gone.

And for reasons she herself couldn't understand, her hands continued their ascent to find that her ears _were_ there…

Just at the top of her head, amongst her hair. She felt them. They were furry and delicate, started with curves like Inuyasha's but came to a sharper point at the top than his.

Kagome met Inuyasha's eyes once more. "Inuyasha?" she asked shakily.

He nodded once.

Her arms dropped to her side as if they had suddenly gotten too heavy, "What happened?" she breathed.

He gulped, hesitated, but then decided he couldn't avoid the subject any more 'She's going to find out sooner or later…' he reminded himself.

"Kagome…"

He had her full attention, it she finding it hard to breath…

"You're a hanyou now".

Seconds passed, her eyes remained blank as if she hadn't heard what he had told her.

Then.

"WHAT THE HELL?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed as loud as she could, then jumped up and burst out of the room at a run.

'Shit' was the one word that went through Inuyasha's mind before he jumped up and was after her.

Moments later after chasing her a bit, outside in the forest, Inuyasha slid to a halt and reached out in front of him and wrapped a strong arm around Kagome's tiny waist and gently pulled her back to his chest, then securing his other arm around her.

She pushed against him "ARG! LET ME GO!!!!!"

"Shhh, calm down." Inuyasha gently commanded into her hair

Kagome took a few calming breaths and relaxed, after a moments she hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry…I don't know what came over me…I…. I just ran…" her voice was barely a whisper, she felt like crying. What was happening?

"It's okay…you're just scared…but it's all right." he eased in the same tone as earlier. His warm breath on her neck was soothing enough; she didn't need anymore to be convinced she that she wasn't going crazy.

Kagome took another breath. "Am I really a…?" she couldn't finish.

Inuyasha finished for her "Yeah."

As Inuyasha let his arms fall away from her waist Kagome felt scared again, though she had no idea why.

He stepped away from her and nodded to the pond they had just happened to stop at. "See for yourself." he said softly.

Kagome gulped and then forced herself towards the edge of the pond. Hesitantly she leaned over a little and peered in the water. What she saw made her gasp.

She _was_ a hanyou! But…she still looked like herself, sort of. It was hard to explain. She looked different but the same at the same time.

Her hair was still black, although it now fell to her waist, but it still had that pretty slight wave to it. 'Wait'…she gracefully bent down on all fours to look closer in the water. Her hair wasn't completely black; it was as if the rays of the sun had splashed blue into her hair! (A/N: ever notice how Kagome sometimes has a blue tint to her hair, like it's laid on the tops her hair and bangs? Well, she looks exactly like that only now its permanent).

The claws on her hands didn't surprise her since she had been introduced to them earlier.

She focused now on her ears, they were black with white interiors and looked _exactly_ like Inuyasha's save that they were pointier…now that she got a good look at them, they were kind of…cute (although not nearly as cute as a certain other hanyou's that she knew all too well).

Then she caught her eyes, they were no longer hazel but an exotic silver-blue, but besides the color they were still _her_ eyes, full of emotion and light. (A/N: in the anime her eyes are brown, but in the manga they're blue…so I thought that was kind of cool to make that change).

Before she knew why Kagome found herself opening her mouth for inspection. She instantly saw why. She had fangs! Not huge ones, but big enough to see, another feature that bore a great resemblance to Inuyasha.

After a long while of studying her new features in the reflective water she finally stood and looked and at Inuyasha "I'm an inu-hanyoukai, sō?"

He nodded.

She looked back at her reflection. Unbelievable…wait a minute! Holy crap! _That's_ what her dream was about! The dream she had before the Shikon No Tama woke her up! The same dream that Midoriko had referred to…

"I will awaken with is dormant within you"… Modoriko's voice went through her mind in a whisper.

'What did she mean by that? …'

"Kagome?"

Inuyasha's concerned voice snapped her out her trance, she met his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

The girl looked away and off to side as if contemplating. "I don't know…yes physically…"

Then the mood shifted and she looked up with a smile "I feel like I have more energy than ever before…so I _feel_ great!"

Inuyasha blinked at her. "You're not mad or scared or anything?!"

"No…for some reason…I'm not at all…anymore…" She looked at him. "Thanks for coming after me."

For some reason, he blushed and looked away "Don't thank me…"

Kagome cocked her head to one side, why did he look so sad all of a sudden? She was about to say something when–

"Kagome-chan!" a voice cried out behind her.

The addressed spun to see her caller; a bright smile crept across her face. "Sango-chan!"

Sango caught up to her and the girls embraced in a friendly hug.

"We were all so worried, are you alright?" Sango breathed as they let go.

"Daijobu, Sango-chan…I just…um…" Kagome unconsciously looked at her claws.

The slayer smiled knowingly "Surprising, isn't it?"

Kagome looked up at her friend questioningly "You…knew…?"

The huntress laughed then smiled again. "Yeah, we were there while you changed…so we _all_ know…"

Kagome sighed a sigh of relief. She was glad she had been spared explaining why she had changed to all her friends…especially since she didn't quite understand it herself.

Sango's smile suddenly melted, she put her hand on Kagome's shoulder. "You're really okay?"

The miko smiled reassuringly. "Yeah…I am."

"Good, I'm glad…we were all _really_ worried about you…weren't we Inuyasha?" Sango asked with a smile and directed the last part at the hanyou.

He blinked once and stared for about a second as if deciding how exactly to answer, then he looked away stubbornly and said a crude "keh" and with that he walked away.

This time it was the girl's turn to blink as they watched him go.

Kagome felt hurt for some reason, "Inuyasha?"

Sango cocked her eye brow, "What's up with him?" then she turned to Kagome, who was staring in the direction, saw the pain in her eyes, and came to the conclusion her friend was just as clueless as she was.

"Kagome-chan…" the miko looked at her.

Sango continued, "He didn't leave your side you know." she said quietly.

The hanyou (Kagome, kids, that's going to be one of her new antecedents because I erm…I like to use them) cocked her head to one side, "Huh?"

"You were out for five days, and he wouldn't leave you. He didn't eat or sleep, we would come in every day to make sure you were okay, but he didn't leave your side for one second."

Kagome blinked in shock.

"…And when we told him he'd die if he eat or anything he said he didn't care."

The miko blinked once more then looked down. Why did he do that?

Sango smiled "Just thought you'd like to know."

Kagome quickly decided to stop worrying about everything, letting the optimist in her win. She smiled back "Thanks."

Sango smiled, "Let's go shopping!"

The hanyou sweat dropped slightly, "Huh?"

"Well…you told me it was one of your hobbies and um…"Sango looked down.

"What is it, Sango-chan?"

"Er….that uniform that you wear all the time…the blood didn't come out of it."

"Nani?!"

"The battle a couple of days ago…"

"Oh." Kagome looked down in defeat, "Crap."

"Cheep up, Kagome-chan, you're going to need clothes to train in anyway."

The miko looked up at her friend. "Huh?"

The slayer smiled "I have a feeling this new part of yours will come in handy."

Kagome smiled back. "You know…I think you're right."

Owari Chapter Jūichi

Amehana: glomps Kagome welcome to the hanyou club Kagome-chan!

Inuyasha: we have a club? …

Amehana: uh…we do now!

Inuyasha: sweat drop

Amehana: soooooo did I surprise ya? Kinda stupid, I'll admit, but, I didn't just throw the Kagome changing part in here on a whim, I've been planning this from the beginning. And it _is_ a critical part in the plot line; otherwise this would be any other fic…kinda.

What will happen next? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

Guess what! This chapter is also an allusion! Yay I love those! "Twist of a fate" is a song by Bob Dylan, he's so cool…

Review review review


	13. Change Of Style

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha®. Duh.

I shall now holla to all my wonderful reviewers…I love you!!!!!

I might have been having some technical difficulties with this fic, but I do believe I have fixed them now. If not, then please tell me.

Chapter XII– Change Of Style

"So, will you be this way forever?!" Shippo squealed hopefully as he walked by Kagome and Sango's side on the dirt road back to the village.

Kagome smiled down at the little demon holding her hand. "I think so…No idea, really…"

"Yay!"

The hanyou giggled.

Shippo smiled. "You were cool before but now your _really_ cool! You can be my big sister because you're a demon now!" he said brightly.

"I'm still Kagome," she reminded him.

"I know, you've always been my big sister, you too Sango!" the kit added.

The slayer smiled in reply.

Shippo continued his chatter "But now that you're a half-demon it's better."

"I suppose so." Kagome said, no emotion on her face. Not sadness, but not happiness either.

"You look really pretty in your new clothes, Kagome." Shippo commented.

Kagome smiled "Thanks, Shippo." she looked down to examine her new attire. She _did_ look cool in it, like some warrior chick of ancient Japan.

She smiled to herself as she walked, the cheerful sun high in the sky, spreading its bright gold joy all over the green and flowered dotted fields around them.

'What am I thinking? That's what I am…sort of.'

After hours of standing around while middle-aged women bustled around her with measuring reeds and bits of potential cloth with many different colors and patterns, she had finally come out with two outfits that she absolutely adored, one of which she was wearing at the present time.

It was the prettier of the two, a Japanese style dress that went down to her feet, but it had slits from the hem up to her about the middle of her thighs for easy maneuvering.

The top had no sleeves; it came to the ends of her shoulders like a tank top. It had a collar that only went up an inch or so on her neck.

The dress itself was a deep blue that complemented her new hair highlights, the pattern was one of numerous golden glowing-like orbs as if tiny fireflies were all alit on her dress. The outfit's theme, if one was to categorize it, was tranquil and serene, but adventurous and outgoing at the same time…not unlike herself in a way.

It had a trim dyed the same golden color as in the pattern, and it traced the outline of the kimono; across the bottom of the skirt halves then up the slits then down again, coming together at an unknown place, for it was so well stitched it was impossible to tell that it had been added separately.

The same trim (but a different piece because it doesn't outline the middle portion of the dress) was at the top, circling around on the tips of the shoulder-length sleeves.

Then on the short collar, there were two strips of trim were placed parallel, then came across the front in a diagonal which ended under her right arm, that piece was there because on the middle of it were two eloquent designs which interweaved into three identical clasps which were next to each other with a small space in between each. Under these designs was a small, oblong piece of bamboo, which served as buttons. To take the dress off one would slip the part of the weaved design that was in a loop around each button off.

Under her skirt slits (which reveled a little too much leg) she had a white skirt that was still good for fighting but wouldn't prove near as mobile without. Oh well, she supposed she could slip it off sometime (she'd rather have a racy outfit on then die from not being able to move in a less reveling one).

It was well made and a fine fabric, it would last even with all the stuff she went through. It was great for fighting and practical for traveling because it was light but strong and comfortable, which was odd because it outlined her curves very well (perhaps a little too well, but she'd get used to it).

Kagome smiled as she stared at her bare feet. She had taken her shoes off earlier finding that she no longer needed them; they felt _weird_ on her feet now. The soles of her feet were tougher now, but still soft as they had always been. Even now, walking on the dirt road she couldn't feel a difference from her bare feet and having shoes on as a human. She now carried them –along with the traditional priestess kimono she had been wearing for days now 'ick'– in her backpack, which she felt she didn't need anymore either. (So ironic!)

The sunlight backed off under the shade of the trees they had just entered, which signaled they were almost near the village.

Kagome sighed, looked up, and smiled at the slayer walking next to her. "Thanks for taking me shopping, Sango-chan".

She smiled back. "Anytime."

Kagome looked ahead. She sighed. She had only figured out for herself that she was a hanyou _this_ morning, and everyone was so calm about it. It wasn't like she wanted them to freak out, but what did they think?

Shippo adored it, Miroku had said she looked "ravishing" and tried to grope her (typical), Sango seemed unchanged but then again, she just could be doing that not to hurt Kagome's feelings, Kaede knew something was going to happen to her. The older miko didn't act like nothing had happened, but she didn't feel sympathy for Kagome either. She liked that.

And Inuyasha…she had no idea; she hadn't seen him all day, but hey, she had been gone, so she told herself to forget that insensitive thought.

After they had returned to the village, Kagome set her backpack down in the common room of the town house (which was just a room her and her companions hung out in) and went outside to do…well she didn't know what she was going to do, but it was better then staying in the townhouse and getting stares.

Outside in a small clearing, Kagome walked a little ways toward some unknown destination when she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The world around her was shifting; she could _feel_ it, every aspect of it. Her whole body felt the change in the environment, she could smell it, hear it, feel it.

It freaked her out.

The feeling surged to a peak as a cold wind blew and came out of nowhere and dark clouds suddenly streaked the skies.

She snapped her head up to the graying heavens just in time a see a dark cloud drawn over her and the world around.

The demoness (A/N: ha! I've made a new word! Shakespeare did that all the time you know,) let out her breath in relief. 'Rain.'

She smiled in spite of herself. Half because she was glad that feeling she had just experienced was nothing more than a shift in the whether, half because she felt stupid getting worked up over nothing more than a coming rainstorm. Still, it was kind of cool senescing the coming rain like that; maybe she'd settle into her new self yet.

Kagome drew in a deep breath through her nose, she smiled. She had always loved the scent of rain, even if came during a beautiful sunlit day, and now it was even better with her hanyou senses. Like someone had captured the scent perfectly in a candle or something. Yet another thing she liked about this new body of hers.

She felt another tweak in her senses not alarming like the last one, but not subtle either. Somehow she could identify it as Inuyasha, somehow…

Just as expected the aforesaid (A/N: that means the person that was just spoken about, tell me if it annoys you, I'll kill it…maybe) jumped down from the nearest tree and landing skillfully on the ground next to her.

He approached her, well maybe he was approaching her, she really couldn't tell, he had a distant look in his eyes he walked, but she brushed her doubt away.

Kagome smiled at him, wondering if he had seen her panic attack. He'd probably make fun of her for it. "You're going to have to teach me to do that sometime."

He gave her a cold look, "Why?"

The miko blinked, then glared. Was bipolarity a demon thing too? "What's wrong with you? You've been acting weird lately!"

He looked away and said "Nothing" quietly.

Then Kagome did something completely and utterly weird. Her lips moved back across her teeth with strange eloquence. She bared her new fangs. A of impatient frustration sound administered from deep inside her chest, but then right after it came out she "eep!" 'd and clamped her hand over her mouth.

Kagome had growled! Really growled. Not a fake growl, not a human sound of irritation, not a child trying to sound like a dog for some make-believe game, it _was_ a dog's sound, animal-like. She had Inuyasha do it before, but hers was more feminine. It suited her, which was even creepier.

Blinking, she lowered her hand over her mouth…only to have it brought back up again when she slapped her neck unexpectedly.

The thing that had caused her to hit herself floated down into her open palm; she must've done that a thousand times while being in Feudal Japan. Myoga puffed himself back to normal in Kagome's palm.

She smiled down at him, "Konichiwa hello Myoga-jichan suffix for grandfather ".

Instead of answering like the old flea usually did when she addressed him; he just blinked owlishly at Kagome. The only thing he could say was, "Uh…Kagome?"

She continued to smile "Hai".

Myoga blinked again, the look on his face clearly was asking, "What in the seven hells happened?".

"I um…well you see…" Kagome looked away and contemplated, it was harder to explain than she thought it would be.

"The Shikon Jewel changed her," Inuyasha said, standing to the side, arms crossed inside the sleeves of his haori, not looking at either of them.

"I see" the flee youkai said, though he didn't exactly. "Well, your blood tastes better!"

Kagome sweat dropped slightly. "Thanks." she said, even though she meant the opposite.

At that Myoga jumped out of Kagome's hand and onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "Hello, m'lord".

Inuyasha didn't even look at him as he spoke, "Haven't seen you in awhile…"

The old demon pretended not to hear that last remark as he rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously for a moment as he closed his into tiny arcs. "Yes, well…"

He stopped and changed the subject "I heard that you defeated your enemy!" He turned slightly to address Kagome. "Congratulations!"

The demoness just shook her head slightly as Myoga (who was clueless of her disapproval) swiveled back to Inuyasha.

"So what do you want, Myoga-jiji suffix old geezer ?" the hanyou asked in an apathetic tone.

The flea demon closed his eye into little arcs once more, but this time to show happy anxiety. "Well, Inuyasha-sama, I'm here to inform you over your inheritance"

Owari Chapter Jūni

Amehana: done done done, suspense, not a very big one but hey…nothing much 2 say except if you have requests, corrections or anything just tell me and review!

Lalala, this is my chapter 12 song, sorry its not very long!

My ne-chan is drawing up demon Kagome, I'll force her 2 finish & try 2 put it up as a link…but someone might have 2 shoe me how sweat drop. If you're confused about Kagome's outfit-it's kind of like Devil Hunter Yoko's outfit.

Amehana out, Blessed Be!


	14. Somewhere I Belong

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha but my wonderful Kate who I love SOOOOOOO über much bought me Inuyasha Manga 13!!!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting 4 that 4 weeks! I LOVE YOU MY KAKAROT-CHAN!!!!!!!!!!

Amehana: well just lemme tell ya how hard this has been, I love this ficcy so much & I don't want it 2 end but…its taking so darn long 2 do!!!!!!!! Last chapter I had particular trouble with…& this one better be easier. Though I'm not sure it will be…

Let's review…

Myoga has just informed Inuyasha of his "inheritance" but what the heck is he talking about? You'll have 2 R&R 2 find out.

Chapter XIII– Somewhere I Belong

The wind blew cold against the gray sky, the hanyou's amber eyes widened a little; for reasons he couldn't explain he didn't like the remark his little servant had just told him.

"Nani?" Inuyasha asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

Myoga just smiled a smile that someone gives you when they know something you don't and you want to know but…anyway…it was a very self centered smile, with a hint of pride for whatever accomplishment he had performed to know this particular bit of information.

"Well, you don't think your father was the only one who left with something valuable, do you?" the old flea asked, alluding to the sword at Inuyasha's waist.

Kagome gasped a little as Inuyasha blinked with wide eyes.

Then Inuyasha grabbed Myoga in between his fore and middle finger claws, apparently trying to kill the tiny youkai. He glared daggers. "What did you say?" Inuyasha growled.

Kagome then glared at the enraged hanyou. "Inuyasha, if you kill him he won't be able to tell us. Duh."

"Shut up, Kagome." Inuyasha said cruelly without even having the decency to look at her, but he let Myoga drop into his palm, regardless of his implied apathy concerning the point she had just stated.

Kagome found herself doing that weird growling thing again.

The inu-oni ignored her threat completely and went back to terrorizing the minuscule youkai in his hand. "Explain." he commanded.

"Well, Inuyasha-sama, your father left you his great blade Tetsusaiga, but your mother also wanted to leave you something."

Inuyasha blinked once and relaxed, he fell silent, trying his best not to look saddened. He didn't do too well with that.

"Myoga-jichan?" Kagome questioned slowly, considering it looked like her fellow hanyou didn't want to continue. Something inside told her to press this matter until it was completely solved. And Inuyasha didn't seem have any objection to her prodding at the moment.

The flea youkai turned to her "Hai?"

Kagome twitched slightly, what a moron he was, "_What is it!?_"

"I don't have it with me for it's something I must take you to." Myoga seemed pretty pleased with himself at this point in the game.

The silence in Inuyasha ceased. His left eye twitched. In one unexpected movement he had Myoga in the same position as earlier– in his claws. "And why didn't you ever say anything earlier about this before?! … not that I believe you…"

"Well milord, I was informed to wait until the time was right." Myoga said as best as could while being choked to death.

"And what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?!" The inu-oni yelled and squeezed his victim tighter.

This time Kagome didn't tell Inuyasha to stop; she just gave Myoga a blank and disapproving look as she realized something. "Probably that he was supposed to tell you a long time ago and either forgot or waited until we killed Naraku off– we're pretty dangerous people to be around." she calmly explained with a sweat drop, though her epiphany come as a surprise to her.

Inuyasha "keh"'d in agreement and dropped Myoga on the ground, who looked like he was an inch from passing away into Nirvana.

But after a few seconds after lying in a deathlike state on the ground, the tiny youkai regained consciousness and jumped up to Kagome's shoulder.

Inuyasha stubbornly crossed his arms inside the long sleeves of his haori and glared at the bug on Kagome's shoulder, "Yeah. Right."

With that he turned on his heels to walk to…somewhere.

"But it's true Inuyasha-sama!" Myoga protested.

"Fine, then show me." Inuyasha said sarcastically without turning around to address him.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" The old flea cried happily and jumped off Kagome's shoulder and onto Inuyasha's.

Kagome sighed in defeat, slumping over for a second, but then perked up herself and ran to catch up with the two demons in front of her.

"So… it's a residence?" Miroku said to Myoga on his shoulder.

"Hai, one of great magnitude." the flea replied.

"It's interesting…" Sango said as she walked by the monk's side.

"What is, Sango?" Miroku asked.

"Well…it's near to the village but not that close…like it was planned or something…" the slayer said as she stared idly at the scene in front of the group of four (Kirara was on her shoulder).

"Of course it was planned! Inuyasha's mother was an amazing woman! She had the best seers in the land find a location, and the best carpenters to build it!" Myoga cried while jumping up and down on Miroku's shoulder to emphasis his words.

He stopped jumping. "Do you mean to say that you cannot believe me?"

Sango and Miroku exchanged glances then looked at Myoga and said, "Yes" in unison.

The old flea sighed dejectedly.

The monk looked behind him, "I can't even see Kaede-sama's village anymore."

Sango nodded "We're pretty far."

"But near enough to where we could get back in time to help them if we ran or rode on Kirara…if there was an attack." Miroku added, his eyes sliding back to where the unseen village was in concern.

"They'll be alright, houshi-sama…at least I hope so…" Sango told him.

He nodded uncertainly.

Ahead, Inuyasha and Kagome walked in silence.

She looked at him, concern in her sliver-blue eyes. He may be acting weird, but she still cared about him…a lot… She knew that this was probably hard for him; he hated to talk about his mother. The girl didn't exactly know why, she guessed it was because his mother was a human, but perhaps it was hard because Inuyasha really did love her… when she was alive, that is…

"Ahh! Help me, I can't see!" Shippo cried from the tall grass.

Kagome blinked at the sound of his voice, she had been so preoccupied in trying to find out what was with Inuyasha lately she hadn't even thought about poor Shippo! It wasn't surprising; the grass was so tall that it brushed against her waist– this was an untouched part of the country. Out of sight, out of mind.

Before the miko could do anything to help her little Shippo, Inuyasha had sighed in disapproval but without one word he picked up Shippo and set him on his shoulders. He may be acting weird, but he was still Inuyasha.

"Thanks, Inuyasha" Shippo said gratefully– that field was scary all alone!

"Keh" was the hanyou only reply, but Kagome could see the pain over this current matter return to his eyes.

That same concern for him flickered in her own eyes. Then, unseen to anyone else thanks to the tall grass, she slipped her hand in his.

Inuyasha didn't even look at her, but he felt the gesture all right. For one second he wondered of he should continue with his plan and reject her but maybe…just this once…

He held her hand back and enlaced their fingers together. All the while neither of them made any sign that this was happening at all– they kept staring ahead as if nothing happened– contrary to the feeling of safety inside both of their hearts that had flared with the contact.

"How much longer, Myoga?" Miroku asked.

"A few more miles" the questioned one answered.

"Ah, here we are" Myoga said happily and the team stopped their walked.

After a gentle slope downward, the field had flattened once more to give way to a large clearing surrounded by massive, tall trees. The tall grass had suddenly shortened to an ankle length.

But there was nothing there.

Or so they thought.

After a few second of staring Kagome had an epiphany she walked forward a small ways. "There's a barrier here…a strong one…"

Kagome walked up to the barrier that one else present, but she, could sense.

The hanyou placed her hands out in front her and called up a small, blue amount of chi on her finger tips that flickered like the reflection of water against leaves of trees. Carefully, controlling her energy –she didn't dare use more chi or pierce the barrier with an arrow, for she had no idea if she could damage the thing inside or not– she placed one hand on the wall that was more sensed than seen.

As she gently touched it, the barrier lit up to reveal its dome form, the off white blue swirling as it stood, then seconds after showing its true form it disappeared at Kagome's silent command.

Their eyes widened in unison at the sight in front of them in shock, save Myoga, who looked more pleased with himself than ever.

There in front of them, just like Myoga had said was a house…no, a fortress…okay, so it wasn't big enough to be a fortress but it looked like it could belong to a lord of the age or some similar form of hierarchy.

And it wasn't just _one_ building, it was four. They were in the style of this time period –long, one story, buildings. They had roofs that came to a point at the top all the way down the length of the structure– all made out of wood.

The building walls were of wood too, but it had the customary rice paper, sliding doors. There were four of the doors on each wall of each building, which showed the separate rooms, most had windows of glass, rare for the Feudal era, meaning expensive.

The four buildings were divided in pairs with a large space in between them; the space could serve as a courtyard.

The two houses that made up each pair were closer and joined with two walkways (roofed but open), one at the front and at the back of the two spaces between each house. And the four structures were joined by one walkway going through all four buildings.

So each of these buildings was separate, but connected by the walkways and main hall, which, also was an airy walkway.

(A/N: I'm SO sorry if you're confused about what it looks like, I'll have my artist ne-chan draw it for you, if she will– keep reading!)

In a daze the team walked into the courtyard glancing around them to no end, their eyes soaking up the scene.

They could see that all four buildings had porches going down the full length on both sides.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to look around, sō?" Miroku asked.

"Of course not!" Myoga said with glee as he jumped off the monk's shoulder.

"Um…okay…let's spilt up" Sango suggested, and much to Miroku's surprise she linked arms with him and dragged him to one side so they could explore the building pair on the right. On the way she shot a glance at Kagome that clearly said, "You find out what's up with Inuyasha considering he _yours_."

The hanyou didn't know whether to be glaring or smile thankfully at her friend, but before she could decide, the monk, slayer and cat demon had disappeared into the closest house on the right.

Shippo jumped down from Inuyasha's shoulders and easily landed upright on the grass. He pointed to a circular stone structure that he could see beyond the main walkway. "What's that Myoga?"

The flea hopped to the kit's shoulder, "I'll show you."

The fox demon smiled and ran forward, jumping up on the main walkway ahead, going across, then down jumping off of it to investigate.

Kagome and Inuyasha stood for a moment in silence, then Kagome looked at Inuyasha. "Are you okay?"

He nodded without looking at her.

"No you're not."

"Don't concern yourself with me…" he said lightly.

The demoness blinked "Why not?"

"Just don't." Inuyasha returned coldly and turned to the left and went off into the houses to explore.

Kagome stared after him, even when he was gone. Something was wrong with him. Very wrong.

"Kagome! Come here!" Shippo joy filled yell broke her sad trance, so she smiled and did as asked.

Sango sighed, "It's _so_ beautiful…even though it's dreary outside"

"Hai, it is." Miroku agreed.

The rings on his holy staff jingled with his step. He, Sango and Kirara had finished their investigation and found that they liked this place very much. So they decided to explore the forest around and were finding they greatly approved of it too.

It _was_ beautiful. They could scarcely see the gray sky trough the small gaps of the trees above, the grass was as green as the leaves and plants around.

Wild flowers dotted the forest floor and gently brushed against their ankles as they walked.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango began.

"Sango…" Miroku protested with a sigh.

"Nani?"

"Must you call me that? It's so formal." the monk said.

Sango blinked, "But…I'm supposed to."

"Yes, well, I give you permission to call me by my name, that is if you don't mind…"

The huntress smiled. "No, of course not!" she continued. "Anyway, Miroku?"

"Hai"

"Have you noticed how Inuyasha's been acting awkward lately?"

Miroku thought back for a moment. "Yes, I have, ever since Kagome-sama was changed by Midoriko-sama."

"Hai, that's what I thought…I wonder what's wrong with him"

"That I don't know, but I'd rather not have to be the one who asks."

The slayer smiled wryly with agreement. "Yeah, I agree with that…it's just…it's bothering Kagome-chan."

Miroku smiled, "You don't want anything to happen to their relationship do you?"

"No!"

"Me either."

Sango smiled this time, but then sighed, "I just wish there was something I could do…" she couldn't exactly finish.

But fortunately Miroku finished for her. "But we really shouldn't get involved and screw things up."

"Sō"

The houshi sighed, "Well, I pray it'll be all right soon."

Sango nodded "Yeah". The slayer glanced up into the canopy wondering if everything _would_ be all right.

"So…if we fill it with water, it'll be a pond?" Shippo asked as he walked next Kagome down the long corridor-porch.

"Hai" the miko answered.

"Cool! We could get goldfish and Koi (A/N: those are those oriental fish you see in paintings. They are usually gold, orange or black…completely different from the word "koi" which means "my love" – try not to get confused it will be terribly sad if you think the couples are calling each other fish…funny though) and water lilies for it!" the kitsune said happily.

Kagome smiled. "Hai…and maybe I could save enough money for a fountain and make Inuyasha and Miroku set it up."

"Yay! Fountain, fountain, fountain…er, Kagome what's a fountain?"

The addressed girl giggled, "It's like water that shoot up from a pump…they're really pretty"

"OOOOOOOOOOOO" he said in approval, and then Shippo "eep"'d when thunder cracked in the sky.

"Well…the rain's finally here…." Kagome said, "I suppose we can't go back to the village, we won't make it in time."

"And why should you?" Myoga exclaimed, "This place was built for you all!"

Shippo blinked along with Kagome, "Really?"

Myoga sweat dropped. "Hai!"

"But, Myoga-jichan, if Inuyasha's mother really did build this place…how could she know that other people would be with Inuyasha? …"

"She didn't, of course, she just issued for the construction with the last of her money…I suppose she just hoped he wouldn't be alone."

"Oh…but then who set up the barrier?"

"As I will explain to everyone at dinner, Inuyasha-sama's mother knew a priestess. That miko made it unable to be seen or removed to all except another priestess". The old flea said.

"Interesting." Kagome replied, and then lost herself in thought.

"So…it's ours? We can live here?" Shippo asked Myoga.

"Hai!" the flea demon said, regaining his earlier visage self-centered pride.

"Cool! I wanna pick out my room! Lesse…four rooms on each building and four buildings…" Shippo said to no one in particular.

"Kagome, what's that?" the kit asked.

The hanyou was snapped out her flow of musings. "Huh?"

"What's four times four?"

"Sixteen."

"Thanks, so…I've got sixteen rooms to choose from…"

Kagome smiled. She liked this place…it seemed too big for a house to her, but then again it would be for five people _and_ a cat-like thing. The forest around seemed wonderful also. All this place needed was some fixing up.

She decided she would like it here…if only a certain other hanyou was as happy as she was…

Owari Chapter Jūsan

Amehana: okay I know, lame and unreasonable, but hey, the Inuyasha series is based on the opposite of reason…sort of…anyway lets not let me go off on that tangent.

I had to give them a place 2 live since, they can't keep hanging out in Kaede's place all their lives, and the villagers are kind of afraid of Inuyasha, and I didn't want them 2 build a house because I think that's even more lame than this (buts that's because I'm mentally insane) and it would take too long…enough ranting.

This chapter title is…you guessed it! An allusion!

"Somewhere I belong" Is a song by Linkin Park

sings (now you be quiet– if there's one thing I know it's that I have great voice)

♫ I wanna heal

I wanna feel

What I thought was never real

I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long…

I wanna heal

I wanna feel

Like I'm close to something real

I wanna find something I've wanted all along…

Somewhere I belong

I wanna heal

I wanna feel like I'm

Somewhere I belong♪

Doesn't have anything 2 do w/ a house but it sounds like Inu's the narrator. Perhaps I should write a songfic to it, ne?

What in the name of God's red pajamas is up with Inuyasha?! I don't know myself, and I am only the author of this story, but I hope we all find out soon (don't worry we will).

Now 4 the sad news…

I'M STUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a point 2 get 2 but I don't know how 2 get there yet, this is going 2 take some massive pondering sessions (i.e. when my mother & father are scolding me for doing something "stupid").

Well, that's it…

Sayonara and be sure to review, kids .


	15. Losing You

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha stop making me saying this & reminding me of the bitter truth!

Amehana: Kami God I'm in a tiffy…whatever that is, my mum says it…but I know if I can just do this then I can go on and write my favorite chapters!

So here I go– I'm diving in

Chapter XIV– Losing You

Kagome hummed softly, the sunrays alighting her skin as she idly walked down the outer corridor of the "house".

They considered it theirs now; for the six friends had been living in the surprise that the flea demon Myouga had dropped onto their laps a little over two weeks ago.

In that time they had all pitched in to clean it up, so now it looked as if the building hadn't been lying dormant for over fifty years.

One day Miroku disappeared and came back three days later with four horse-drawn carts full of furniture and other things that he had looted from "exorcising" some very nice places. Either that or he had traded what he stolen from those clueless inns and palaces for it. Probably both.

The monk had this mischievous grin that stayed on his face even as Sango was about to strangle him and give him an earful about morals and taking advantage of people and how he shouldn't be called a priest. But her rage dissolved when she saw the nice stuff he had gotten. It was quite funny to watch them actually, Kagome thought.

They hadn't decided on permanent rooms yet, because their time had been preoccupied with cleaning, decorating, also, Kagome and Sango had decided to plant gardens along the outside walls, and all their new tasks took up time.

Kaede also approved of their new residence.

'She's probably glad we'll stay out of her hut from now on', the demoness thought with a smile as she glanced around her for anyone to talk to, or anything to occupy her time with, as she was alone currently alone. And that was never too rewarding for our optimistic Kagome.

The elder miko, Kaede, who had come by a few days ago, thought it would be good for the team to stay outside the village…for the townspeople got "restless", shall we say, with them around. Partly because over half of them were demons (now) and partly because it made the villagers think a threat was coming.

But Kaede said Kagome had to return to the village sometimes for "Priestess Lessons".

As that thought came into her mind the hanyou sighed. It was a horrible thing to think…but she didn't want to be the priestess of the Shikon No Tama.

She didn't mind protecting the village from the youkai and evil humans that wanted it. And she never thought twice about putting her life on the line for it but…the thought of living only for a jewel that caused evil and hate was very depressing.

But it was her duty and she wouldn't complain about it.

Besides it was kind of cool learning what she could do with the powers she was born with, but sometimes…she could only think that they were Kikyo's powers.

Kagome didn't exactly like or dislike her miko training…but what she knew she _did_ like was learning about her hanyou powers.

She didn't have to wear shoes, ever. She had learned the difference between everyone's scents and auras. She didn't scratch herself (or anyone else for that matter) with her claws anymore. And her fangs weren't foreign to her mouth anymore.

A few things did surprise her now and then, but that was all right.

One very handy thing was that her hanyou powers helped her control her miko powers, paradoxically. After practicing a lot, Kagome was sure that she would be able to draw out her chi and use it as a weapon, which was a big step.

A few days ago Kagome had also learned that she could run so fast that the world around her turned into a mere blur, and things that would be impossible for her to lift as a human were simple as a hanyou.

She _loved _doing these things…but she knew that she wasn't living up to her potential.

If only Inuyasha would help…

'Inuyasha'

This recent…thing he was doing, hadn't gotten better; in fact it grew worse and worse with every passing day.

The girl just couldn't figure it out!

Kagome barely saw him anymore. He had helped with the house, but disappeared as soon as he could, and the times when she _did_ see him he either ignored her or was mean to her for no freaking reason!

It was bad.

That led to fights, not physically, of course, but verbally. They had had some of their most horrible screaming matches lately.

It was as if… as if he hated her like he used to…as if…as if they just met instead of having spent three years together!

Kagome's eyes filled with pain. Oh gods, she hated fighting with him, she hated every aspect of it from every angle.

Perhaps it was her fighting instincts kicking in. Or perhaps it was her determination to figure this out no matter what it took…but fighting all the time was doing more damage then good, of course.

Regardless, the demoness couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen.

And she didn't know if it was going to be good or bad.

Sango sighed sadly and stopped polishing her Hiraikotsu to stare idly at the building across from her where inside some certain two hanyous were most likely screaming their heads off at each other; catching the attention of a certain monk who was sitting next to her.

"What troubles you, lovely Sango?" Miroku asked in his most polite voice.

"Guess." the demon exterminator said irritably.

"Ah yes, their constant fighting is really starting to piss me off too." the monk said in a underlying tone as he crossed his arms and leaned on one of the many wooden beams that supported the porch nearest the courtyard. He had always had a way with making the worst words sound acceptable.

Sango smiled wryly in agreement.

"Aren't they supposed to be getting closer?" Miroku said nonchalantly.

The huntress looked at him suspiciously. "What are you suggesting?"

"Nothing…" he said with false innocence.

She gave him look. "You were the one who said we shouldn't interfere".

Miroku sighed. "Hai, and I keep to that…unfortunately".

"Are you worried about them?"

He looked at her with suspicion "Are you?"

Sango looked away. Miroku smiled knowingly.

The huntress's brown eyes lowered a little as if she were considering something as she gazed at the building across from her. She continued to stare at the structure as she spoke. "We should leave, Miroku."

He cocked an eyebrow, none too alarmed. "Nani?"

Sango looked back at him, "If we stay I'll kill them both…I'm sure of it."

The houshi glanced away as he thought about her offer. "You mean…just you and me?"

She nodded "And Kirara, Shippo will stay to make sure things don't get worse."

"If that's possible." Miroku muttered.

"I don't know…but its hurting Kagome-chan and maybe if they're all alone for awhile, they'll fix things. Inuyasha's always been prideful, maybe if he had no one to impress, he'll come to his senses or something…"

Miroku gave _her_ a look, "And where did you get that idea?"

The demon exterminator dropped her head in defeat with a sweat drop "I don't know…"

"I think you have a point anyway."

She looked up at him inquisitively and found that he was unconsciously staring at his right hand. He no longer had to keep it covered all the time, nor did he have to wear those prayer beads anymore. All that was left was a light red scar that resembled the markings a ravaging wind left on a dirt road.

"Now that I don't have my Kazaana Wind Tunnel anymore, I'm going to need something else to use as a weapon."

"And what are you suggesting?" Sango asked, obviously interested for reasons even she couldn't explain.

"I suppose I should find a way to raise my spiritual power."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?"

"No idea."

She sweat dropped.

"But…I suppose I could ask my master…"

The huntress shrugged, she had no idea but, hey, it was the best excuse they had.

"Sounds like fun, I would love to go on a journey with you." the monk said, which earned him a death glare from Sango that clearly said, "try anything, and I'll kill you".

Owari Chapter Jūyon

Amehana: erg…bloody short chapter…really makes me angry but…I get 2 write one I've been waiting 2 write 4 a llooooooooooooooooooooooooong time now! giggle it's going to be great!…I hope…

Shippo: what's gonna happen?

Amehana: can't tell, it's a secret!

Inuyasha Gang: sweat drop

Amehana: shut up

I wrote the first part in my notebook, while I usually type on my laptop. You see, I was asleep and my muse attacked me!

Rin: what's a muse?

Amehana: They are the nine goddesses of the arts, and the ones who help me are Erato and Calliope (I think). Yes, I am insane.

"Losing You" _can_ be to Sango and Miroku leaving but they're coming back soon…its more to Inuyasha and Kagome.

Do me a favor and…REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	16. Deep In My Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha…or Kagome or Shessy or Rin or Shippo or Miroku or Kirara or Sango or Jaken or Kouga or Ginta of Hakkaku or Kikyo (Arigato Kami!) or Sota or Kagome's Ji-chan or Eri or Yuka or Ayumi or Hojo or Kanaa or Naraku or Kagura or Kaede or Mrs. Higurashi or Myoga…

Aren't you glad you asked?

Amehana: KONICHIWA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure how I'm going to do this; I have no plan…

But, then again I never do…

Hehehehehe

"In a heart full of dust,

There's a creature called lust,

It surprises and scares…"

-Björk

"Isobel"

Chapter XV– Deep in My Heart

The wind blew gently across the green grass in some lone field in some incoherent place on the way. The sun shined high in the blue afternoon sky.

Kirara could be seen now and then popping out of the field, trying to snatch an unsuspecting butterfly from the air.

Sango sighed happily. She had no idea _why_ she felt so happy being with Miroku but…she did. And it wasn't simply a happy feeling; it was a safe feeling and…a _right_ feeling.

The slayer wasn't sure what day it was; it didn't really matter. What she _did_ know, however, was that the trio would be at the shrine of Miroku's master in about one more day of travel.

She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her arms, folded on top of her kneecaps. The huntress continued to stare out at the field. "You know Miroku…I've liked being with you. It's been fun," she admitted, not shyly, to her own surprise.

"So have I," he answered as he too took in the meadow around in which they had been sitting for a short while before continuing.

Seconds passed in peaceful silence.

"You know…before I meet Kagome-chan and the others, I didn't stay in one place for a long time, because I was called to exterminate demons all the time. So I never got to stay home much." Sango said suddenly.

He nodded in agreement as he watched her talk. The monk defiantly knew how _that_ was…never staying in one place seemed to waste a person away. They didn't have any roots.

Miroku had found that he took much enjoyment when she told him about her life, and her views on things…he liked the way she would smile when he replied and how she would listen to what he had to say too, as if she had a curious desire to know him.

And that was the scary part. He wanted to know her too, he wanted to tell her everything; things he had told no one before. As he thought about that, he knew he wanted her to confide in him as well.

Also…it didn't matter _what_ she was saying because he also just liked listening her voice.

Suddenly Sango stopped and that brought Miroku back from his musings. "Sorry…" she said with a smile. The huntress could feel the warm sunshine of the afternoon all over her…or was it the blood rushing to her cheeks that made her so hot?

"You probably don't want to hear about all that…" she said, looking away, her face reddening a bit.

"Iie!" The hoshi protested.

Miroku sat down right next to her in grass, and setting his staff down at his side. "Tell me everything, dear Sango…"

For a moment Sango just looked at him. Why was he acting like this? He hadn't touched her in an inappropriate way in days…a week maybe. She had always known there was a better side of him hidden beneath those charming blue eyes. Was she finally seeing it?

The slayer smiled. "Okay…"

Before Sango knew it, they were sharing life stories what must have been the millionth time since there departure from Kaede's village…and she didn't even mind as he draped his arm around her shoulders. She didn't mind so much so that she actually leaned into him. She liked being in his arms.

(A/N: Well, that last bit was for Kakarot-chan because she swears that S x M stuff is the best, so I hope she liked it. Now…must get into a dark mood)

Kagome reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Why was she crying? It was stupid and useless to cry. Nothing would be solved from crying.

The hanyou leaned forward a little to look into the stone pond at the back of their house. Still a hanyou, still Kagome. But she wished she wasn't, she wanted to be somewhere else…she wanted to be someone else, some_thing_ else…

Not here, sitting on the thick stony lining of the pool, not in Feudal Japan, not having constant fights with the person she loved more than anything else in the world…

She felt so alone…Shippo was there, of course, and he wasn't in any way oblivious to what was going on, so he tried to help the best he could. But, Kagome had to admit, he didn't prove to be much comfort no matter how hard he tried.

Sango and Miroku were gone, and Kirara too. They had been gone for…what? … four, five days?

The miko tilted her head up to the deep blue, star scattered, night sky. Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't things be…different, to say the least?

New tears welled up in her eyes but as soon as they surfaced she bared her fangs, growled slightly to herself and harshly wiped them away before they had a chance to fall.

After unbearable moments of just thinking Kagome clenched a fist of the arm hanging idly at her side.

Sitting here wouldn't help anything. But then again…what would?

Once again feeling hopeless and lost the demoness stood and walked unsteadily toward the woods. Perhaps she would find comfort there.

(A/N: uh-huh. rolls eyes)

For what seemed ages (but was truly only a few minutes), the heaviness in Kagome's heart made almost everything around her seem worse than it was in order to match her current situation.

The days went on without fail but it was nothing to her. With the angst that hung like a cloud in her heart the rising of the sun was no different from the sinking of the sun. She would die soon if it continued. And it was too much to take already.

Kagome idly walked on. Little did she know, a certain other hanyou harbored the same feelings she did…

Above, in one of the many trees, one of Inuyasha's white ears flicked at a sound.

He shifted his gaze from the night sky above to the forest floor below where he saw Kagome walking slowly to nowhere in particular.

Ever so slowly he let a smile cross his face. He had just now caught a sign of her presence; she was adjusting to her hanyou powers better than she thought, hiding one's aura from detection and being deathly silent being a few.

The girl had a painful look in her half lowered, beautiful silver-blue eyes, and the same look overcame his own at the sight.

'Naze?'

He wanted more than anything to stop ignoring her, to stop being a jerk to her as often as he could. He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her he was sorry a thousand times and that he loved her and only her and he would forever.

But he couldn't; it was impossible. He had to continue…

Kagome _had_ to hate him…

Because she couldn't stay in the Warring States Era any longer.

She had to go back to her time and stay there forever, no matter what.

Maybe…maybe if Kagome could fully purify the jewel (she did a little more every time she went to the village but it drained energy so it couldn't be done all in one shot) then she could ask it to remove her demon powers and restore her back to a full human, then it may or may not disappear. Either way, she had to go back.

It was really hurting him; day after day the youkai attacked the village and she would get hurt. She never said anything about it, but that didn't matter to him; he hated the smell of blood on her.

It was going to kill her if it went on like this.

And if Kagome died it would be the end for him too, but this act wasn't out of selfishness; he just wanted her to be safe. This was the first time since the last time Inuyasha had devised a plan to keep the object of his affection free from harm, many being simply telling her to stay behind during a fight, a few others consisted of triggering an attacker to dual _him_ instead of them both, and once he had actually thrown her down Bone Eaters Well and shut off her return with a giant tree. But none had worked as efficiently as his present arrangement, that being the reason it had to continue.

Even if he couldn't ever see her again, just to know that she was alive was enough. Besides…he didn't deserve to see her, did he?

He had decided that she should go back to her time and stay there while Kagome had been lying asleep in a coma-like state for five days, her body changing by the second.

Why couldn't he have been born a _real_ youkai? With his half-demon body he couldn't protect her, so she continued to get injured. She continued to fight.

If he used the Shikon No Tama to become a full youkai he would lose his soul, and most likely kill all who approached him, like he did when accidentally transforming once in the past. And he would rather go through hell a thousand times than to have Kagome die at his hands.

If only things were different. If only he wasn't a worthless half breed. If only …

His amber eyes glassed over but Inuyasha blinked the tears back before they had a chance to proceed with their task, very angry with himself for such a foolish reaction.

This had to end. Kagome had to leave. Soon. Still a hanyou or not. He was moving too slow with his plan.

The demon could sense something bad was about to happen and he couldn't risk Kagome's life over it, whatever it was. So there was a new threat one the way, paired with their everyday duties of protecting the little village and the Shikon Jewel.

Even if she didn't leave tonight, he would be closer to his goal. And whatever was going to come was coming soon, so it would be best if she left soon. This was not her time, she was not born here; she had no ties to this dangerous place. She had so much going for her, and she deserved so much more than he or Feudal Japan could ever offer. Inuyasha knew that Kagome would never come to that conclusion on her own, so that is why the hanyou boy had to act as he had been recently.

Or so he thought.

With that matter where it was Inuyasha forced himself to jump down from his high branch and landed easily on the ground below without making a single sound.

Inuyasha leaned back on the tree from which he had just descended from and crossed his arms over his chest causally, trying his best to put up his emotional barrier once again.

After many minutes Kagome walked up through the trees next to him, as he had expected.

She caught his scent and said "Hey" without even thinking while she idly gazed up at the night sky through the dark green canopy of the trees.

He "Keh"'d coldly and looked away before he let any of his real feelings through, as he had been doing for so long now.

There was a long pause in time, it seemed…Kagome didn't look at him, but she clenched her fist instead; she swallowed as her balled hands trembled. Her eyes narrowed at his unsuspecting form. That was it. No more. It was the last straw or whatever idiom you chose to use; she had had enough. His attitude had pushed her over the edge. She had put up with this shit long enough.

She spun toward him to face him, now both her hands clenched in anger, so much so that her claws were causing her palms to bleed.

"What the hell is your problem?!" she screamed as loudly as nature would allow. "You've been acting like more of a jerk than usual ever since I changed. What's wrong with you!?"

Inuyasha glared right back he stood straight up to challenge her attack as if he had been practicing for the moment. "You are!" he returned almost as loudly as she had screamed.

He let it sink in, and was about to leave when something unexpected happened: Kagome didn't take it. That was the first flawed step in his plan.

"What in the seven hells is _that_ supposed to mean?!" the demoness growled threateningly, still clenching her fists.

Inuyasha didn't leave then, but decided to stay for reasons he couldn't produce. "That you should leave here and get the hell away from me!"

"Why should I?!" she screamed in order to hide the pain inside.

He thought up an excuse fast, he was and had always excelled in the use of insulting language. "Listen, bitch, the quest is over so you can just go back to your own time now. If you stay here then you'll just continue to be worthless and a pain in the ass."

Kagome stared for a second in pain and disbelief then her restored her anger. "So all that's all I ever was to you, a tool to help get the jewel back together and a fucking replacement for _that_ _bitch_?!"

"Yeah, and I don't need you anymore for either of those things so leave already!"

It was if the world around her froze then came crashing down in a cataclysm.

Then Inuyasha finished his charade by crossing his arms saying "You weren't ever anything like Kikyo anyway…". Bringing Kagome's unofficial rival into his strategy hadn't been part of his original outline, but Kagome herself had supplied the idea involuntarily, and the moment he said it he knew it was going to work well.

And that's when Kagome slapped him across his cheek than ran from that place as fast as she could.

The wind blew a few fragile leaves from the trees across the lone boy standing there in the forest letting blood streak down his face.

Inuyasha stood, and let out the breath he had been holding in. When Kagome had hit him she also had cut him with her sharp claws, probably on purpose, and now blood was flowing from the five marks on his face and it was stinging his skin harshly.

He stood there and lowered his head in shame, knowing he had deserved that.

The wind blew through the trees once more.

His sliver-white bangs covered his eyes, he clenched his fists wondering even now if he had done the right thing and weather he should change it, but he unclenched his fists and stopped the debate without a real reason to.

At least she would be gone –and therefore safe– forever…

Forever…

Seconds passed as the realization sunk in.

But she would be out of harm, and her life was the most important thing to him, it had been for a very long time, and it would be forever.

She would be safe.

'Sayonara, my Kagome'

…

Slowly, with a heavy heart, Inuyasha turned to go back to the house. Then suddenly he stopped.

'Wait…the direction she ran…'

He spun around. She wasn't going to The Well! She was running toward some unknown direction to be alone.

This was all a huge mess; a whirlpool of lies that had finally caught up with him. In the end would this whole web of deceit be useless?

Maybe he was wrong about all this, maybe she would be okay but…probably not. And besides…she had to go back to her time to avoid what was approaching, she had to go back because her life was at stake here, she _had_ to leave…

'Shit!' was the thought that ran through his mind and as fast as he could he darted after her in the dense trees.

"Kagome!" … Her name echoed throughout the forest, unable to reach her, the girl being miles away.

Kagome dropped to the ground on her hands and knees; she dug her fingers into the dirt between the dark green grass, and clenched she forced her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.

'I hate him I hate him I hate him!' the girl screamed silently.

After moments of mentally cursing Inuyasha she gave up and slowly opened her eyes only to have them fill with tears after all.

"Naze?" she whispered in pain as her they slid down her face, and she didn't even bother to try and stop them. All her worst fears had been confirmed in a matter of seconds

No stars in the sky tonight…

Then her senses tweaked even as the cruel night wind blew a scent to her. She sat up, the sadness in her face gone but the tale-tell water still apparent in the deep blue darkness around her. It wasn't someone unknown like she had suspected, and she was in the mood for a fight.

'Inuyasha…'

Kagome heard herself growl deeply.

So he had come for more, huh? Well then, there was no way in the seven hells she was going to let him do _that_!

The hanyou stood, wiping away her tears as she did so– and that's when Inuyasha caught up with her.

Hesitantly he approached her, the two potential courses of action to take wresting for dominance in his mind. One was to continue to provoke her to go, so that she would leave, the other being to drop this whole stupid thing and explain everything to her.

He was still deciding when he spoke. "Kagome, I– "

But she cut him off before he could continue.

The miko wasn't looking at him; her dark bangs were covering her eyes, rendering them unreadable "I didn't think you were that kind of person, Inuyasha…

"I guess I was wrong…

"I always thought you didn't care about what someone was like on the _outside_…but…"

In a flash she looked up at him "It really bothers you that I don't look like Kikyo anymore, doesn't it????!!!!!!" she screamed in a mix emotions, then she raised her hands in front of her, palms open to attack. Her fighting instincts took over, the instincts she wasn't even used to, perhaps wasn't even aware of.

The next thing that Inuyasha knew was that he had been knocked to the ground by a force that had raveled faster than the speed of light.

Kagome was standing over him, at his side, flexing her claws. "Doesn't it?!"

Before he could even deny what she had proposed, Kagome spoke again "I knew there was something up with you but I didn't think it was _that_ ".

Inuyasha sat up to explain, his eyes wide, his voice half determined, half pleading, "Kagome, listen I–"

Once again he was cut off.

"Iie, _you_ listen!" she screamed. "You lied! You told me that you liked me for who I was and that I wasn't a replacement! You said that you wanted me to be with you, you told me that I wasn't alone because you were with me, you asked me to trust you…and…I did"

(A/N: yep, he said all those things in either the anime or the Manga )

At that moment her anger shield broke. Kagome sunk to her knees and the grass rustled softly beneath her.

She bowed her head as fresh tears cascaded from her eyes "And I did…I believed you…

"I'm alone…I used to have two homes, and now…I don't have any…I'm so alone…and I don't want to be alone anymore…" Her voice was a trembling whisper.

Inuyasha listened to her pour out her soul with pain in his eyes, but so many more emotions mixed up inside.

That's when he realized something. She may have been screaming and cursing at him –things she rarely did– but he found that he couldn't feel the pain that should've been there from when she had blasted him with her chi only minutes before. He didn't feel it because it wasn't there; she had only hit him with enough force to knock him down, no more. She wasn't really trying to hurt him.

Kagome may be angry with him…but she couldn't ever completely hate him. And she never would, because that's who she was. She may get mad at him, but never enough to not ever want to see him again. So his plan wasn't going to conclude in effectiveness after all.

"Kagome" was the only thing he could say through his many thoughts.

Unconsciously he reached out to her in an attempt to wipe away her tears, but she sensed it and jerked away before he could touch her, glaring.

The boy drew his hand back.

Unbearable seconds passed in silence, then Inuyasha broke it.

"Can I least…explain myself?" Inuyasha dared to ask.

"Why should you?!" she screamed once again and suddenly raised herself onto her knees, her fists clenched once again. New tears spilled down her cheeks. "I trusted you, you shallow bastard!"

Kagome bowed her head, sinking back down as before. "Why did you change your mind? Why can't you accept me like this? I…I like myself like this…"

For a second Inuyasha wondered if he'd heard her right or not. "What? …"

But Kagome just kept her head down, and her voice was weak as she spoke. "I hate you…"

He saw the drops of her tears splash on her hands.

After a while, slowly she looked up at him, she had stopped crying for now. "It's not like I'm going to believe you anyway," she said as coldly as she could muster, then she turned her head away from him sharply.

"You…don't have to…" Inuyasha answered with both sadness and shame in his eyes, but determination in his voice.

Kagome blinked and turned back to him, and her expression wasn't exactly easy to understand. She looked as if she was trying to decide what he had meant by his last remark.

Finally the girl gave him a piercing look. "Fine. Try."

Owari Chapter Jūgo

Amehana: MURHERHERHER! Cliffhanger! GO ahead! If you all are mad me then HATE ME. Bring it on.

Guess what! "Deep in my Heart" is a _song_! gasp It's by DJ Mystik!

But in utmost seriousosity the next chapter will be up soon. If you are nice to me HINT HINT REVIEW HINT HINT.


	17. Shinjite

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Poo.

Amehana's Note: The chapter title means believe. Wicked is the coolest musical eva.

"Darkness goes on without us long after we're dead and gone…just hold to what you have."

–The Ataris

"My Reply"

Chapter XVI– Shinjite

Inuyasha let out a short breath of relief, and realized that he had been _very_ tense. Then he drew his legs in front of him into a criss-cross position.

For a moment he just sat there, wondering where to start. There was so much to tell…how to even put it in sentences was a mystery. What was he going to say to her? How could he ever explain himself? The situation? Anything?

What was he doing, anyway?

He swallowed to clear his throat. "I didn't change my mind, Kagome…"

Anger flared in Kagome like fire in reaction to his words, she raised her clawed hand as if to attack. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?! That you've _always_ thought of me as–"

But Inuyasha, suddenly alert, reached forward and grabbed her wrist, firmly and gently, which stopped her with surprise. "No…please, _please_, let me explain…then I'll leave you alone or whatever you want, I swear it." His eyes were begging in a way that would have seemed impossible for him.

He let go of her, and she lowered her hand back into her lap. And then she waited silently, looking at him in a way that could freeze rushing water. It was awful.

"I didn't change my mind about you when you were turned into a hanyou, Kagome…"

She looked directly up at him, telling herself not to believe his words but finding it hard to ignore the way the heaviness in her heart seemed to lift a little…

He continued, striving to keep his voice steady. "I-I don't think of you as a shard detector, or Kikyo's replacement, or anything like that…" His words ran together.

He broke their eye contact, and then smiled, very slightly. "I never have…"

He looked up at her, his slivery white bangs falling away from his face. "I wasn't lying when I said I liked you, _and_ all those other things…"

Inuyasha sighed, allowing himself to be distracted by the world that ticked quiescently around them. Trees swayed silently in the breeze, as if hiding a secret. He blinked, and let the peacefulness pull his emotions out and shape them into words. "I know saying 'sorry' is futile now, but I am, for everything, not just for what's happen recently but for…_everything._" He tilted his eyes up to the dark blue blanket of the heavens.

Suddenly time was passing slowly. Her flight into the woods seemed like years ago. If Kagome had any anger left, she couldn't stop it from vanishing at his last confessions; she looked at him curiously.

He met her glance, and he rushed to explain, despite how vulnerable it made him. "I'm sorry. I was so horrible to you, I was mean to you, and acted liked I hated you, and…and I betrayed you…" once again he looked down and his bangs covered his eyes.

Kagome blinked in shock…was he…ashamed of himself? No way, not Inuayasha…

Slowly, uncertainly, Kagome reached out and gently touched his cheek, in reaction he looked up at her, surprise written clearly in his eyes. "Go on." she prompted softly as she removed her hand. He hadn't won his forgiveness yet.

Seconds passed and he said nothing, until…

He looked at her, smiling painfully at the irony of it all. "I really fucked up all those times, huh?"

She didn't answer, which meant yes.

The boy looked away for a short time, as if wondering what to say next.

"Kagome, I…

"I don't deserve to be with you, Kagome"

Her eyes widened at what must have been the craziest words she had ever heard him say. "What?!"

Suddenly pouring his heart out didn't seem so difficult a thing now. "You've always stayed with me…no matter what, you cried for me, you stayed here and fought with us even though you have a home somewhere else, you taught me how to trust others, and… I don't know how many times you've saved my life…" he said shaking his head a little to emphasis his testimony.

She stared at him.

He continued. "The reason I've been so mean you to is because I want you to leave…"

Her silence broke suddenly and she had lapsed back into defense mode, "Why? You said you wanted me to stay here!"

"I do! More then anything, I really _want_ to be with you," He explained quickly without thinking about his words before they spilled out.

She calmed down. "Then? …"

"Because…" he trailed off, then clenched his fists.

Any levee that had been holding back his feelings suddenly broke. "Why did you have to change?! It should've been me, _I_ was supposed to use the Shikon No Tama to change, to protect you, but I couldn't even do _that_…"

Kagome stared. He wasn't angry that she used the Jewel instead of him…she could see that in his eyes, he was…

"Wait a second! You wanted to become a full demon…so you could _protect me_?" she asked, sitting up straight, having just realized what he had said. A delayed reaction.

He looked up at her, blinking as if that one was a given. "Well…yeah…"

A small smile crossed her face. She couldn't help but think that was sweet. "Since when?"

He thought. "Ever since…" instead of finishing he suddenly blushed involuntarily, then mumbled. "A long time…"

Kagome cocked her head to one side.

Silence swept over them, then Kagome remembered the subject at hand. "So…I transformed and you wanted me to leave because?" she provoked; Inuyasha never had been good at conversations.

He met her eyes suddenly. "It's _not_ because you changed, it's because we got attacked so much. And it got worse every day. And…you had it the hardest because you had to fight _and_ purify the jewel…I know your strong but…you got weaker everyday…"

Kagome mused over this. True, it was getting hard, and then she remembered:

"This is going to kill Kagome, granny" 

Suddenly she knew; he was worried about her. So much so that he would get her to hate him so that she would leave, so that she would be safe…

Kagome looked down at her lap. This was going way to fast; it was all a mad rush. Her mind continued to scream while her voice was silent.

This was all a knot, and the threads had to be untangled one by one.

She picked out a single string. "Inuyasha I think you're blowing this out if proportion."

He blinked, and a second later let his emotions run away with him. Since when had he liked plans anyway? "What do you _mean_? How can your life ever be blown 'out of proportion'?!"

He cut himself off, leaning back a little. Had he said too much?

Kagome looked at him, should she just stop asking questions now?

The girl sighed and slowly let her gaze wander to the black trees in the night, the shapes surrounding the clearing.

'But…' her mind wouldn't let up.

"Why, Inuyasha?" she suddenly inquired, looking back to him.

He looked confused.

"Why do you care about my safety so much, I mean, I don't mind risking my life…"

"I know." he replied steadily, wondering what she was getting at.

"Well, then why? There's defiantly something you're not telling me here." She paused, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer to her next question. "Why do you feel the need to protect me? You don't seem to care about any of the others, and they fight too, so why do want _me_ to be safe? I don't get it…"

Inuyasha gulped. "Because I…"

He hadn't expected her to ask this but…when was he planning to tell her anyway? _Was_ he planning to tell her?

This was it, no more pride or cowardliness. Who cared if she hated him for it or if she hurt him? It had been going on for far too long now. She had a right to know.

He took a breath, and then looked straight into her waiting sliver-blue eyes all the while surprised (and relieved) to find that he wasn't blushing.

He said it: "I love you."

The crickets could be heard singing softly around them as it hit her like a freight train.

Crash.

Kagome's eyes widened, she couldn't believe it. Perhaps she refused to believe it. Though she wasn't sure what she was expecting his answer to be, that defiantly _was not_ it.

The demoness found that she couldn't stop her legs from giving out, so that she fell over in the grass beside her. But she scrambled to her knees quickly. "Nani?!"

Inuyasha smiled, and leaning closer to her. The half-demon unconsciously caressed her face gently. "I love you more than anything, Kagome. I mean _anything_. I love you for who you are. I love everything you do and everything about you and…I have for about three years now."

She just stared, could he be saying what she thought he was saying? What she had only dreamt of? But…that irrepressible doubt rose up in her again. She sat up on her knees once more. "But…I thought you loved Kikyo."

He jerked back a little in surprise at her words, but then he realized how easy it would have been for her to still believe that.

Inuyasha sighed, a shadow fell over his face. "Iie, Kagome, I don't…I did once, but lately I've just felt like I owed something to her, because she died for me, but then she almost killed you, and I told her that I wouldn't go to hell with her."

Kagome gasped. "You told her that?"

He nodded. "When you were shielding yourself, and we all thought you were dead."

Kagome looked away and forced herself to process this information. "…So you just thought you owed her something? …"

"Yeah… and I guess that tied me to her, so I thought I loved her… but I didn't…" Slowly he looked up and smiled slightly, which suddenly turned into a sad expression. He knew what he was saying probably didn't make any sense.

"I think I loved her, because she reached out to me after I was alone for so long, and I thought I would continue to be alone without her…but…I haven't been alone ever since I've met you". He was struggling to get right words out, his sentences stifled.

Kagome just thought for a long moment, not sure what she was feeling. But before she could work it all out a question surfaced: "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Inuyasha's eyes flickered with some new emotion that Kagome couldn't exactly make out as she waited for an answer. "I was… afraid…"

The girl blinked, "What?"

"I…just…" he couldn't finish. Inuyasha looked away.

Somehow Kagome knew. He was scared to put his heart on the line because Kikyo broke it when he did the first time. That made him a coward, didn't it? But…anyone would be a coward after having the person you love kill you, and then come back from the dead only to hate you, and only to find out that the love between you hadn't been true in the first place. She wondered if that was all to their story.

A knew thought rose in her mind: even through all that he was letting himself be vulnerable again, even given a second chance with Kikyo, he was giving it up because he loved Kagome now…and he didn't seem to want anything from her in return…

Kagome looked at him placidly. "So…if you only wanted to me to leave, so that I could be safe, then you didn't mean all that stuff from earlier, did you?"

"No! … Of course not…I was just…" He looked at her and sighed helplessly, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean it…well…"

Kagome suddenly found herself hanging on his words.

He looked at her. "I wasn't lying when I said you're not like Kikyo…"

"What?" was all she could stammer in return.

"You may be her reincarnation but you're not much alike." he cut her off as she began to ask what he meant. "What I mean is… That's a good thing, Kagome, iie, it's a _wonderful_ thing…"

She stared at him, unable to do anything else.

His explanations came without Inuyasha himself being able to stop them, he spoke as if he had been thinking this but couldn't put the volume of it into words. He still couldn't meet her eyes but that fact didn't deter the effect of his words. "You've never hurt anyone until you've known they deserve it, you're strong, you're not afraid to love and trust others, you except me as I am, you never asked me to change for you, the only thing you've _ever_ asked me to do was open up to you, and somehow…you got to me in ways Kikyo –or anyone else– never could have, you're not afraid of anything…I…I think you're amazing, for all the things that you do and put up with…I-I love you for not being like her."

Moments passed and Kagome really wished that she could stop staring with that look of astonishment on her face, but he refused to look in her eyes.

Suddenly, Inuyasha's emotions caught up with him and he blushed slightly, realizing that he had told Kagome everything that had been in his heart in this single evening. "I guess that's all…" he said quietly, and stood to leave, thinking that Kagome probably didn't believe a single thing he had said.

Kagome just sat there on her knees, still, just letting all thoughts in her head settle and make sense. Inuyasha loved her…and he didn't love Kikyo, for that matter…he wasn't going to leave her…he didn't think of her as Kikyo's replacement, and he loved her for it too…

Suddenly her clawed hand shot up and grabbed his just as it was about slip out of reach. Inuyasha turned to her and the next he knew was that Kagome was no longer sitting frozen on the ground, but that she had quickly stood, thrown her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck, before he could even react.

The inu-oni stared at the girl on his shoulder wondering how he was supposed to be taking her embrace, but slowly he relaxed…

Inuyasha could smell the tears streaming down her face. He wrapped his arms around her, the way he always had wanted to when Kagome cried.

"You better not be lying…" he heard her choke in between her muffled sobs.

"…I'll kill you if you're lying"

In reply he smiled a small smile. "I know, I'm not, I swear I'm not…"

And for the first time that night the wayward couple was as peaceful as the world around them. Inuyasha held Kagome in his arms, afraid to let go, until her tears ceased.

Finally Kagome detangled herself from him, but only enough to look into his eyes. He had the most amazing eyes, their deep golden color was amazing in itself, but the way they could harbor any emotion at any given time, and then a second later be wiped clean of feelings. She had always loved his eyes…but not _just_ his eyes, of course…

Kagome had no idea what she was doing when she laid a loving hand on his cheek; she hardly ever knew what she was doing anymore. Slowly she studied him. "So…basically, you're objective was to protect me… even if it meant sacrificing your feelings…and _before _I transformed you wanted to turn into a full youkai to protect me…even though it was a huge risk… and it would be changing who you were…"

She looked at him expectantly, and he nodded once.

The half-demon girl looked away, her hand slipped away from his face. "I've always known that you were self-sacrificing…" she whispered, and then she turned her eyes back to his. "But I didn't think you hurt yourself _that_ much." there was pain in her bright blue eyes, pain for him, suffering for his suffering.

Before he could even voice his opinion she was contradicting it; she knew what he would say. "And it _is_ a big deal, Inuyasha, it is…"

Slowly Kagome slipped her arms around his neck and hugged his body close to hers. "You just wanted to protect me…" her voice was quiet.

She felt him nod indifferently against her. Then came a long pause. Slowly the demoness pulled away to face her companion. She seemed so much more lighthearted now. "That's either the stupidest thing I've ever heard…" Then she smiled, "Or the sweetest."

He watched her in silence as the wind blew softly, stirring her hair…. she was so pretty.

"But…you left one factor out of your equation." she said.

Inuyasha looked at her with cute curiously. "What?"

Step by step, the scene played. Kagome elevated herself on her tip-toes, softly she leaned against him, her hands on his shoulders, her head titled into his neck, close enough to make shivers run down his spine. Her lips formed a smile just before she whispered: "I love you too".

Just as hers had done earlier, Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Really?" was all that he could say.

She simply smiled at him, for that was all she needed.

And just when Kagome thought that everything would turn out right from here on…the atmosphere suddenly shifted away from its happy state.

In the deep darkness she could still see him with her night-adapted eyes. She could see him, but what she was seeing couldn't have been real.

He let go of her. Disbelief was the apparent reaction to her confession, it shone in his eyes as he backed away from her and shook his head 'no'.

Kagome watched him. This wasn't the reaction she had thought of. What did that mean? She started to get a little frightened.

He shook his head one more time and sank to the ground, the grass rustling as he did so.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said, it came out weaker than she had intended. She sat down in front of him. "What's wrong?"

For a long time, it seemed, he wouldn't ever look up at her. His eyes were unreadable as they stared at the ground. She saw him shake his head slowly in distrust one final time before he got up the courage to meet her waiting eyes, eyes full of hurt, at the current moment.

"Kagome…how?" He whispered.

She stared at him, with features unchanging…he was completely serious!

Seconds passed as he waited –somewhat apprehensively– for her answer, his amber eyes never leaving hers.

Kagome swallowed…why was this suddenly so hard? What should she say? She had no idea how to give him a straight answer. So she didn't.

"Inuyasha, I…I don't understand…what do you mean?"

He looked absolutely taken aback for a second, but then he relaxed into that depressed state once again. "How can you love me, Kagome? I…" he looked away as if he couldn't face her any longer. "I failed you."

Once again she felt helpless to reply, and she could do nothing more than soak in his countenance. Failed? Failed at what, protecting her? She had never seen him so close to tears before– ever.

'Yes…' she stated mentally, 'and something else, something that he's even _more_ ashamed of…but what it is?'

Then suddenly she knew. The thing that used to make her the most miserable person in the world. The thing that could be boiled down to one single word: Kikyo. There had been times in the past when the boy had been caught in some pretty questionable situations with his former love, just when things between he and Kagome were starting to settle into something significant.

"Inuyasha!" the girl protested, catching his attention, "I thought that you, of all people, would know me better than that! …"

"I _do _know you, Kagome!" He returned. "But–"

"I think that all people deserve a second chance!" Kagome interrupted, hurt.

"I _know_ you do, but…" he broke off, and then Inuyasha moved closer toward her. Kagome felt his hand wrap around hers; it was warm and comforting.

"Kagome" he began in a pain-filled whisper. "My hands have been stained with the blood of betrayal…how, how can forgive me for _that_? Don't you feel it when I look at you? Doesn't it disgust you when I touch you? Doesn't it haunt you like it haunts me? …"

The wind blew threw their large vacant clearing, rustling the trees, the grass, tossing leaves into the electrified air.

At that she would've screamed at him for being so…so ignorant, if she hadn't known, if she was still a human, but she wasn't.

She was just like him, an inu youkai. Not only had he defied the one thing he held precious in this world by betraying it like a dog in heat, but he had also defied himself, and his race; loyalty was written deep within his roots, it was an ancient code, a law in his instincts. The guilt of what he had done was physically destroying him.

Not for the first time and certainly not the last Kagome's eyes brimmed with tears. "Oh, Inuyasha…" were the words she said before throwing herself on him once again.

After catching his balance due to the impact, Inuyasha found himself once again staring down at his love crying, crying because of him, and this time he couldn't stand it.

A second later he had slipped his arms around her despite the fact that she was practically stopping his breathing from holding _him_ so tightly– her arms securely around his chest.

Inuyasha buried his face in Kagome's soft hair. "Please, don't cry, Kagome…I hate seeing you cry…please, _please_ don't cry…"

But Kagome couldn't stop. How could she tell him how much he meant to her? How could she ever let him to know how wonderful he was? How could she ever express how much she loved him when he despised himself so?

Then she realized: He must first stop hating himself so much, for him to see how much she cared for him.

Slowly she slipped away from him, but only slightly, only to look at his emotion-filled eyes. The hanyou leaned her forehead against his, her dark hair fell eloquently fell over one side of her face, and her tears were visible in the night. "Inuyasha, what I see when I look at you is my best friend." She smiled through the silvery tears on her face. "I see my protector…I see the handsome boy I fell in love with quite some time ago."

She was blushing, but only slightly, he noted. For a second she looked away, then back at him, her eyes full of warmth. "I forgive you, Inuyasha."

His eyes got wide, just as hers had earlier.

"I forgive you with all my heart and all my soul." Slowly he saw that enchanting smile of hers. "We cannot change the past, but we can always try for a better future…_always_". The last bit was no more than a whisper.

She rested her chin on his shoulder and let her eyes close peacefully. " I want you, iie, I _need_ you in my future."

Inuyasha closed his eyes too, he felt like crying, _truly_. Kagome had forgiven him, forgiven all his trespasses…his Kagome had forgiven him, and that was the only thing that would finally allow Inuyasha to forgive himself.

"Kagome."

The miko heard him whisper her name as if she were a saint, and he the unworthy pilgrim, all his sins she had just pardoned, washed away in love…

Willingly, she answered his implicit plea.

Kagome meet his eyes and –for the first time in too many days' count– they were _happy_. Gently he rested his clawed hand on her cheek, as if out of a pre-rehearsed movie scene, he kissed her, gently, sweetly, perfectly.

Kagome sighed inwardly. It was the best feeling in the world.

The wind blew around the clearing once more, but softly this time. Things were about to change.

Owari Chapter Jūroku

Amehana: whew, that effing chapter took me a butt load of time to write and I'm glad it's over! But…I still liked it a lot . I'm so glad things have cleared up…now the fun stuff starts, hehehe

I want to say thank you to all my wonderful readers. I will try my best to make my chapters longer, as you have all requested. I will also try my best to answer all your questions that you type up in your reviews.

Nothing much to say except REVIEW OR I'LL KILL YOU!


	18. Like Someone In Love

Amehana: sigh this fic is starting to haunt me…the other day it wouldn't let me watch American Chopper…yes I am a girl & I love to watch that show. Blame my dad; he's a motorcycle freak, so I guess it's in my genes. I love bikes, although one would never know it if they looked at me. But…I surprise many people with my hidden points in my personality, hehe.

Anyway…I hope I'm not getting worse and worse in my writing by the chapter because most fics do that and I _hate_ it…

Well, I'd best get started if I'm going to accomplish anything.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, but I own this story so ha!

Chapter XVI– Like Someone In Love

"Love, in other words, is transcending the ego to connect with another."

- Joan Konner

It was as if he had been covering his ears and keeping his eyes squeezed shut for days on end.

He saw Kagome after each fight she had had with Inuyasha, and every time and the girl had had tears in her eyes. But she always smiled at him when he approached, as Kagome would more than likely always do. It was kind of a tick, in that sense. But he wasn't fooled, nevertheless.

Shippo may be little, but he wasn't stupid. He tried to help, tried to stop the fighting that was going on between Inuyasha and Kagome, but he found that there was nothing he could do about it…

Even being the chibi he was, he knew that the dramatic duo had to end their scenes of tragedy by themselves, but _that_ feat seemed very unlikely to ever ensue.

Then Sango and Miroku left, and Kirara too. He didn't blame them for wanting to leave. They asked him (being the only other full demon among them, as Kirara was required for traveling long distances, and would not willingly be separated from her mistress) to try and stop it if Inuyasha and Kagome started to kill each other. He agreed, of course. But a small part of him wanted to run after his three friends as their figures faded into nothing down the dusty path.

After they were gone, he was alone most of the time, mainly because it was simply depressing to stay around either Kagome or Inuyasha for extended periods of time.

Shippo noticed something. Inuyasha seemed to hate Kagome every time he _saw_ her, but when he wasn't _with_ her, he just looked sad. The chibi demon always knew that Inuyasha felt happiest when Kagome was around, but every time they fought Kagome usually stormed out of the space and wouldn't talk to him for hours…sometimes the rest of the day.

Well, that was stupid.

'Adults _are_ stupid.' he had thought very often.

He felt like a child torn between fighting parents. Once Kagome had told him that was something called "divorce". Kagome wasn't his mother and Inuyasha wasn't his father… but they were the closest people he had to them.

He hated it, hated shutting his eyes and putting his hands over his ears every time he heard them, even if he wasn't in the same room.

Then one day…it just stopped.

It was strange….

They had had a particularly bad fight one day, and then that night they were both gone for hours. He didn't know what happened but…they seemed to have made up, because they didn't fight anymore, and if they did it was quickly ended. Those little disagreements didn't bother him, because the two would probably never be completely civil with each other. He remembered Sango smiling once –before Naraku was defeated– and saying it was cute when they had little quarrels like that because it showed how much they really loved each other.

They got along! No more screaming or tears. They saw each other a lot more, and seemed to smile more (even Inuyasha, which was amazing). Inuyasha said he would teach Kagome to use her powers. And there seemed to be something different about the way they looked at each other…

Shippo liked to watch Kagome train, he even got to help sometimes, which was fun, and it was on one of these sunny days in which we find our beloved couple…

Kagome sunk to the ground and sprawled out the soft grass, breathing heavily, sweat glistening over the unclad parts of her body and soaking through the rest. Thank God for deodorant, was all she could say about that.

She sat up slightly and removed her braided hair out from under her neck so that it wasn't as hot. Her efforts didn't make much of a difference, though, as she allowed herself to relax into the ground.

Inuyasha smirked and stood over her at her side, his sliver-white hair framing his face as he leaned over slightly. "Giving up? ". His bare chest was gleaming with sweat, the muscles flexing as he steadied his breathing, _so_ sexy

Kagome grinned mischievously, placed her hands palm-down on either side of her head. She then swung her legs up with perfectly parallel straightness, and over her body so that her bare toes brushed the grass over her head, then swung them back down and used the momentum to bring her upright on the ground, barley missing Inuyasha as she did so (A/N: I know that was a horrible explanation but maybe you've seen it before, Goku does all the time). She was amazed how flexible she had gotten lately.

As soon as she was standing Kagome dropped into a fast crouch then swung one leg around and –he being completely off guard– tripped Inuyasha.

Kagome gently sat down on her defeated rival's lower chest, as he was now on ground, and smiled that same reserved smile once more. "Nope".

The demoness leaned back and placed her arms on Inuyasha's knees, then titled her head up to yellow-green canopy of leaves above them. She watched the sunlight flicker like fairies as the leaves swayed in the light breeze. Kagome sighed. "It's hot"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, " 'It's hot'" he mocked her in a falsetto voice that was nothing like Kagome's, but he smiled all the same after saying that; it _was_ hot.

He was surprised at how fast Kagome caught on to things, that probably was do to the fact that she was intent on stretching her hanyou-ness out to its full extent. She was getting faster and more liquid in her movements with every try. He was starting to wonder if it was a good thing helping her like this, for she might end up kill him the next time they had a row. (A/N: ha! I used a British word, but then again I always do that in order to fool people. It means fight) But he couldn't help but think he was enjoying the way her body was feeling on top of his at the moment, so this wasn't a complete waist of time after all. (A/N: .v)

"Well…it is…" Kagome protested in an undisputable tone.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows in a guyish way as Kagome shed her white haori off so that she could be cooler in her white, spaghetti-strapped shirt, which had been under the long- sleeved top.

"That's better,"

'That it _is_' was the first think Inuyasha's mind computed.

She said while stretching out her arms. Kagome found that she loved learning how to fight without using weapons. The hanyou girl now knew all the basics, a few advanced movements and tactics, and she was now working on polishing them by sparring with Inuyasha. It was fun being with him.

The teenager looked over the length of her arms. Lately she had found that her muscles were now hardening so that she was strong, not just thin. It didn't look gross or anything (like body builders –ick) just more sculpted.

Inuyasha's eyes strayed up to the trees. "You know…" he said, "This may create some complications if someone sees us in this position"

Kagome smiled nostalgically, "We've been caught in worse."

He mused over this. "Yes we have…"

"Take off your clothes!" "BEG me to" 

(A/N: That's from the manga after the battle with Yura…I hope you know that.)

He smiled slightly, then sat up, causing a giggling Kagome to slip into his lap. Inuyasha gently leaned his forehead on hers and looked into her blue eyes, still smiling a little.

Then he titled his head down and ran his tongue up the length of Kagome's neck. She closed her eyes in reaction to it, shutting off the sense of sight so that touch could take over. (A/N: Thank you Mr. Minnik!)

The miko smiled at him when he had pulled away. "What was that for?"

He smiled back, "I dunno…do I need a reason?"

"No" she whispered, then leaned closer and kissed him, her lips slightly parted.

After what seemed a minute Inuyasha's keen white dog-ears flicked when he heard a sound. He pulled away from the kiss, and by the disappointed look on her face, he could tell Kagome had heard it too. It was Shippo coming to get her from the house. He would tell her that Kaede wanted her to come to the village to study her stupid scriptures and priestess stuff, just like he did almost everyday at around the same time.

He placed his head on her shoulder. Kagome sighed and circled her arms around his shoulders. "I have to go," she whispered into his hair, though she seemed like she had to force herself to say so.

Inuyasha shook his head slightly, and then realizing that their parting couldn't be prevented he sighed and sat up.

Kagome kissed him one more time and whispered "See you later".

She moved out of his lap, stood and grabbed her shirt just as Shippo came into view of the clearing to accompany her.

The girl smiled. "Hi, Shippo."

"Hi Kagome!" he answered cheerfully.

Inuyasha watched her as they left, and just before disappearing in the woods Kagome turned around and looked at him, the longing to stay just a little longer written all over her face.

Her braided black hair and blue training pants (A/N: they looked like a long skirt if you stand still, but they are really pants. Just like the priestess hakama but blue…lesse…Kaoru off Rurouni Kenshin wears them, so does Kenshin for that matter.) blew in the breeze as she just stood there, looking beautiful as ever.

Shippo rolled his eyes at the couple then grabbed Kagome's hand with his own and dragged her away. Kagome gave in resentfully.

She sighed sadly and stared at the forest floor as she and Shippo -at her side- made their way to the village. Kagome didn't know _why_ Shippo liked to go with her, but she didn't mind.

"Kagome?" his curious voice snapped her from her trance.

"Huh?" she said, looking at Shippo.

"You and Inuyasha are friends now, aren't you? 'Cause you two talked about stuff, right?" He had this hint of anticipation in his voice that made him sound like he wanted the two to get together more than anything.

She smiled. "Yeah."

"Cool." he replied then went back to walking with his eyes transfixed before them. Quickly he changed subjects for no real reason. "What is Kaede teaching you about being a priestess?"

The hanyou sighed. "Well, incantations, and–"

"What's that?" he interjected.

"Erm…spells and chants." she said after racking her mind for an explanation.

"Oh."

"Yeah…and I purify the jewel some days and study scriptures and runes…" she trailed off and got a sad sort of look in her eyes.

"Is it that bad?" Shippo asked hesitantly.

"No, not really." she said quickly, realizing all of a sudden that she wasn't very good at hiding her fears. "Its just…the thought that's depressing…"

Shippo looked at her questioningly.

"Well…I mean no wonder Kikyo wanted out. It's a lot of responsibility for one person. I mean, you're like a nun. You can't get married or have kids…

'Or fall in love…' her mind whispered to her softly.

…or do anything else, because it would distract you from your life's work…" As she talked she suddenly caught the realization of her own words. It scared her, yet she kept on going. "It's dangerous and…its your whole life…this little Jewel, this _thing,_ can control you."

Usually Shippo would go back to their house after walking with Kagome to her lessons, but a few select times he had stayed just to watch. He remembered once he witnessed her purifying the Shikon No Tama. It didn't seem like that much, but if one were to take a closer look they would see that it was a detailed process on the inside.

Kagome just held the jewel in the palm of her hand. She would stare at it, sometimes for hours on end. She wouldn't say anything, but the Shikon seemed to bend to her will regardless. It glowed when she did that.

The chibi remembered watching her, watching the Shikon No Tama getting brighter as Kagome bored into it with her eyes. What was scary about it was that while purifying the jewel Kagome's eyes would go out of focus until they were dark and pupil-less, with the light and emotion that usually shone so bright completely gone.

The miko looked down. "That's why I hope someone comes along and makes it disappears, but…it doesn't seem too likely…"

Then she quickly looked up. "But, don't tell anyone I said that. Even Inuyasha…I don't want him to worry about me."

Shippo smiled and got this wise, knowing look in his blue eyes. "Okay…if you say so…"

(A/N: Kami, I open in media res a lot don't I? I'm sorry, I just like to.)

Sango sighed exasperatedly as she lowered Hiraikotsu to the ground beside her. The tip of the weapon disturbed a small amount of dust on the dirt road on which the slayer now stood.

Even away from the village there was still trouble, fortunately, this little town's inn had three travelers who knew how to get rid of a dangerous demon.

True, the centipede had come down easily, but not too easily. It never was easy to slay a demon.

The overwhelming amount of black dust from the fallen youkai's dissolved body had just blown away with the wind.

With her spare hand, the girl reached up and wiped away the sweat from her forehead with the black sleeve of her fighting gear.

Sango smiled a little, realizing that her traveling partner would probably use this battle as a sly way to get them yet another free night at the local inn. He had such a nice way of doing that.

She saw Miroku smiling at her from not too far away down the street where he had helped bring the giant centipede down from the rear.

He held up a hand in a wave to signal that he was all right, then–

"Ack!" was the only word that could be made out from his general direction as no less than ten girls tackled the priest in a "hug", cooing praises.

"Oh, houshi-sama you're _so_ brave…"

"First you rid our inn of an anonymous ominous cloud and then you save our town!"

"Thank you so much!"

"It was so daring of you!"

"If you wanna stay here a night longer you can with stay _me_…"

"No, me!"

"Ahem, its obvious he wants to stay with _me_"

"Er…thank you ladies but–" Miroku began desperately when a certain Demon Exterminator walked up.

"He can't." she cut in, glaring daggers at the hoard of girls, holding her massive bone boomerang behind her back, although it would've been perfectly fine to keep it on the ground…

Miroku flashed a thankful smile at the young woman, but she didn't seem to catch it.

One of the admiring girls suddenly turned nasty and looked at Sango in disgust. Maybe even jealously. "Who are you to decide what he does?"

"Yeah, why would he want to go with _you_ anyway?" another, who just happened to latched on to the monk's arm sneered.

"You haven't got any claim on him." Said yet another girl, her garish pink kimono shining in the midday sunlight.

Sango glared once more. "Well…maybe I do." she said coolly.

With that she spun away from them on her heels and walked away, wondering why she had even bothered to get those girls away from Miroku. They were right and he probably was enjoying himself thoroughly, the pervert. She hated it.

The girl didn't even hear the girl's shrieks as Miroku suddenly shoved them off him and forcefully stepped ahead so hard that some of them hit the ground with force. But it did surprise her when Miroku ran after her and gently grabbed a hold of her arm to stop her.

She turned to him and saw a bewildered look in his sapphire eyes.

"What…did you mean just then?" he asked skeptically.

Sango sharply drew in a breath. Oh great, she had said that she claimed him hadn't she? That she had some sort of hold on him? Or wished it was so. Not that it was untrue, but now she had made a fool of herself in front of him; she knew that she loved him… somehow…but with his ways, how could he ever love her back? How could she ever feel secure in a relationship with him?

"It's nothing." she muttered, and shook him off her, then picked up her walking again, this time faster.

Yet he didn't give up, and had soon caught up with her.

Miroku slid in front of Sango from his run, and she stopped. "No, it's not 'nothing'…"

"I–" Sango began but then cut herself off, knowing it wouldn't make a difference. She began walking away once more.

Miroku kept his pace next her. "That girl said that you didn't have a claim on me and you said you did."

Sango walked faster as if she was trying to escape him, she looked down and said "Yes." very quietly.

"Hey, Sango how long have we known each other?" she heard him ask.

Suddenly she stopped and looked at him, suspicion written all over her beautiful face. Instead of saying, "What does that have to do with anything?" which made sense to say, she calmed down a bit to answer:

"About three years."

Miroku smiled. "That's a long time for someone to keep something a secret, isn't it?"

'Oh god…' thought Sango miserably 'now I'm going to get it'.

"Thank you for saying that, dear Sango." Miroku said softly.

She looked at him, wondering if she had ever heard such underlying emotion in his voice. "Why?" she asked, wondering what he was getting at. Was he going to make her confess?

"Because it's showed that you are the braver out of the two of us," he replied, smiling again.

"What do you mean?" she demanded as softly as possible.

"I love you, Sango." Miroku said.

She blinked at him, her brown eyes wide.

Kagome came back that night with a monstrous pile of old papers that turned out to be ancient scriptures at Inuyasha and Shippo's questioning.

As soon as she had stepped inside she had sat down in her room she went straight to work. The yellowing and very fragile pages were scattered about on the floor around her.

The rest of the day she continued to bend over them, occasionally stopping to quickly scribble something in one of her spirals, apparently taking notes. The girl only stopped to eat dinner and then retreated to her room once more.

She didn't even notice as the daylight faded into the orange glow if evening.

Inuyasha turned away from the fire he had built in the fireplace in Kagome's room, brushing the shavings of wood from his hands.

He saw Kagome staring intently at a scroll, looking like she wanted to burn a hole in it with her eyes or something or the sort. The inu-oni unconsciously cocked his head to one side, wondering what it was exactly she was doing (and had been doing all day, for that matter).

He sat down next her on the floor, carefully not to disturb the unorganized chaos of papers. "What are they, exactly?" he asked once settled at her side.

Kagome sighed and put the paper down on the floor; she seemed very grateful for the distraction as she did so. "They're spells that I have to memorize."

"Oh…_all_ of them?" he asked, somewhat astounded, his amber eyes wandering across the mess.

She smiled weakly. "Yep, crazy huh? But this is nothing compared to what I have to memorize for school…"

Her smiled faded and she sighed again, but not a whining sigh; a sigh of someone who is tired, but must stay awake because of what they are stuck to.

But before she could regain her determination to stay awake, she had closed her eyes and had softly leaned over onto Inuyasha's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around one of his lovingly. The past few days had been bliss; one week they were fighting, the next falling face first into the crazy things love makes people do.

Slowly he smiled and picked her up bridal style. He walked over to her futon and gently laid her down upon it.

"Iie…I have to finish…" Kagome protested as she was his arms, but she made no move to follow up on her spoken intention.

Inuyasha smiled and bent down, balancing on his feet next to her. "If the question comes up, then I'll say you fell asleep…and I just couldn't wake you up." He said, and the playful tone of his voice also said to her, "No one cares if you don't finish."

He stood to leave, but was interrupted as Kagome took his hand. He looked back at her; she was smiling and sitting up slightly, propped up on her arm.

"If you're going to tell that story then you better make sure its true." she said composedly.

At first he didn't understand, but it clicked into place as Kagome lay down once more and closed her eyes. He smiled.

A second later Kagome heard Inuyasha as he moved behind her, and then she felt him at her side then he laid himself down next to her. Inuyasha curled up beside her, her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her slender waist.

She smiled without opening her eyes as he kissed her neck. He laid his head down next to hers.

Kagome slowly rolled over to look at his handsome face in the glowing firelight, the night now black outside.

She smiled. "You know what, Inuyasha?"

He opened his eyes "What?" he whispered softly.

"You can be really sweet sometimes." Kagome replied while still smiling.

"Whatever." he said lightly, as he switched the position of his arms so that one was draped securely over her waist.

Kagome took his free hand in hers and enlaced their fingers together. She snuggled into his warmth and closed her eyes, breathing in his scent that she had loved instantly since the first time she had caught it. The scent of the world before a storm, when the rain is still clinging to the clouds.

"Oyasumi…koi" Kagome whispered and soon was drifting into a deep sleep.

Owari Chapter Jūnana

Amehana: awwwwwwwwwwww, see what a sucker I am for fluffy cuteness & cherries (that the term me friend Kakarot-chan a.k.a. Aoi Hoshi coined. It means romance without lemons or limes. I love to use it even though I don't mind citrus stuff). sigh sorry if you don't like it because I do & I'm the author so I win. Teeheehee the romance isn't stopping…

Anyway, the last thing Kagome said there was "Goodnight…my love" I know I should've translated it then and there but I didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Like someone in love" is a song by Björk, who is brilliantly cool! I love her to no end…she's from Iceland you know.

I am sorry if I don't end up posting a chapter for some time…I try my best to post one every Friday, but either the internet isn't working, or I just forget…despite that millions of post-it notes I have up everywhere.

When I read your reviews, I notice that some of you have questions, and I will try my best to answer them…more often then not I refuse to check my e-mail, as I am afraid of flames, to be perfectly honest. I think of myself as a pretty strong person, but I suppose out of the many things I _can_ be sensitive about is my writing…now this does _not_ mean that I do not want to know where I can improve. I am an avid perfectionist, --()

I can't exactly remember most of the questions that you asked but in my crazy memory I do recall one of you asking me when I am going to switch to Inuyasha's P.O.V. Now, this one I can answer. The style in which I write is called third person omnificent, a.k.a you see everyone, and you hear everyone's thoughts. I apologize if it seems that I am using Kagome in a first person limited sort of way, for I am not trying to. I suppose, if I am, then I am doing it because I myself am a girl. I am not nearly skillful enough to try to express life through the eyes of a boy, as I have no idea how they think and it is a well-known fact that they are insane (but wonderful at the same time).

Well, that's all for now just stick with me and remember to review.


	19. All You Wanted

Amehana: Awwwwwwwww, here it goes…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha® or any of it's characters, oKaY?! Good. Glad we got that settled.

If this isn't filler then I don't know what is, but I truly cannot help myself.

Chapter XVII– All You Wanted

"It was so cold…

So I took your hand and we figured out

That when the tide comes I'll take you away

If you want to

I can save you

I can take away from here

So lonely inside

So busy out there

And all you wanted was somebody who cared."

–Michelle Branch

"All You Wanted"

Kagome yawned and stretched her arms above her head as she walked on the stony path to the hot spring; therefore banishing the tiredness from her body.

The multicolored and abstractly shaped rocks made a soothing, crushing sound as they rubbed against each other under her bare feet. It was a beautiful morning in Feudal Japan and the sun was shining fully in the sky, but the shade of the trees above cooled her path.

Kagome smiled to herself as she set her bag (full of the necessary things to take a bath) on a rock that sat on the rim of the hot spring. The steamy water lapped upon its smooth surface as the wind blew softly. Only last night she had slept perfectly comfortable in Inuyasha's arms. She loved the way his body was so warm, the way she could his heart beating, and the way his scent seemed to lull her to sleep, and then energize her as she had awoken that morning. She giggled. It was amazing how wonderful he could be if he just gave loving a chance.

Not far away was the aforesaid himself. Inuyasha smiled unconsciously and leaned back against the tree in which he was sitting.

'She's so beautiful…' he thought as he watched her in the morning sunlight, undetected by the young woman.

(A/N: oh, gawd, here I go…sorry kids but I have 2 do this commits Hara-kiri)

That's when Kagome reached up and unbuttoned the two clasps to her one-piece dress kimono, her eyes straying over the scenery of the place.

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he sat bolt upright. Uh-oh, he _had_ to leave now, he couldn't watch her; she'd kill him if she ever found out! And besides, he really wanted to respect her…well, part of him did, anyway.

The youkai gulped and watched as her clothes came sensuously off her perfect body. He couldn't stop watching– no matter how hard he tired.

Below, the miko smiled slightly as she stepped into the warm water. She stood there for a second getting used to the temperature as it rippled from her descent into the pool. Then she took a breath and dove under the water to drench herself fully, only to surface once more.

Then it was even worse, his keen eyes watched as the water ran down her skin like small waterfalls until they rejoined the pond's surface, which barely even reached her waist –for she hadn't waded in very far– causing his attention to be attracted to that certain area.

Kagome gathered her hair and slowly pulled it over one shoulder– the water had turned the black tresses with blue streaks into small wavy ringlets. The hanyou ran her fingers through her hair to comb out the tangles.

Inuyasha gulped again as she did that, her dark wet hair in contrast to her, pale, flawless, skin, covered as it was in beaded water droplets…no no _no_! He couldn't think like that! The demoness ducked under the water once more, moving her huge amount of hair to her back.

She surfaced…and then it happened. Without even looking in his direction Kagome calmly said, "Why don't you join me, Inuyasha?"

Apparently he wasn't so undetected. He jumped up on all fours on his perch, digging his claws into the wood. He leaned back, a (cute) distressed look on his face. 'Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!' was the only thing his panicked mind could produce.

But before he could even try to get away Kagome said a single word softly: "Sit"

The prayer beads around Inuyasha's neck pulled him ungracefully down into the dirt below.

For a second Inuyasha didn't know what had happened. Then he remembered the spell, and realized something: Kagome hadn't used her oswari power over him in a long time.

He stood and brushed himself off, knowing he couldn't get away now. And even if he _could_, Kagome would chase him and, with her speed, most likely catch him. It was for the best anyway– he owed her an apology.

In a couple of jumps Inuyasha had landed on all fours on a boulder right in front of Kagome.

He bowed his head, feeling like he had just screwed up something without it even getting very far. She'd never give him a chance to redeem himself _now_. "I'm sorry." He alleged, trying his best not to sound miserable.

Kagome blinked in surprise at his apology.

Then he closed his eyes and waited for the slap he knew he deserved. Like Sango always did to the lecherous monk. Erg, he had sunk that low.

But it never came. Instead Kagome placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Don't be."

He opened his eyes to find that she was…smiling at him. The inu-oni blinked "N-nani?"

Her smiled changed from a loving one to a playful one. "I always wanted you to watch me anyway." (A/N: it's true! Sango figures this out in Manga # six, or something…)

At first Inuyasha was confused, then ever so slowly a smile crept across his face. He grabbed her caressing hand and in a few seconds he had enlaced their fingers together, then with his spare arm he gently pulled her closer to him. He was finding it exceedingly difficult to avert his eyes with each passing second.

"You little vixen, you were torturing me!" he said with a smile.

Then he bent down and gently pressed his lips to hers, closing his eyes. Kagome closed hers reflexively, and willingly gave into the kiss.

When they pulled away Inuyasha leaned forward with his perfect balance and nuzzled her neck.

Kagome giggled. "Well, yeah. I had to find out if you would." Her waist-long black hair was now covering her front in many sections, (in an honest attempt to regain her modesty) some wide, some tiny, others in between in a sinfully sexy sort of way.

He blinked in confusion and pulled away a little, but only enough to look into her eyes. "What do mean?"

She glared slightly and let go of his hand. "Isn't it obvious? All those times you said 'I have no desire to look at you naked' or 'I was looking for the Shikon shard' or… whatever"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "And you believed me?!"

Kagome's risen temper dissolved. "Well…yeah."

He stared in amazement.

"I'm no warrior babe like Kikyo!" Kagome blurted out before she could stop herself. She blushed furiously, embarrassed and a little angry for revealing how much that constant self-comparison used to haunt her.

In reply, Inuyasha just shrugged. "I wouldn't know".

Kagome clamed down and blinked at him once, looking at the boy suspiciously "You mean…you never…with her?"

At that the youkai almost fell off his rock; fortunately he steadied himself. "Hell no! I never did _that_ with her! Kagome…" he looked at the girl in front of him, wishing she would realize how amazing she really was. "She's not like you…she didn't like me being half-demon, she…she barley let me _hold _her… I've never done _that_ with anyone…"

Kagome gave him a scrutinizing look; he _was_ male after all, and she had no idea if his half-demon side gave him more restraint on his hormonal demands, or if it boosted them. Either one could be possible, considering his record.

"Really!" He exclaimed under her silent interrogation, "It's not like I haven't _wanted_ to, but I was stuck to a tree for fifty some-odd years, just in case you forgot that fact …"

As Kagome slowly believed his words, Inuyasha smiled slightly and bent down close to her again. "And besides, I'm _glad_ I never did anything with her…because if I'm going to let anyone have me, then I want it to be you, my Kagome." he said softly into her ear.

Her eyes widened slightly, her mind processed the promised fidelity in his phrase, not the narcissism. "Really Inuyasha?"

"Hai." he whispered, and then kissed her once more.

He wanted to be with her! And, if inu-youkais, like their canine forebears, wolves, mated for life, then…then could he be suggesting he wanted to stay with her…forever?

Kagome's eyes dawned a loving look when they pulled away. She smiled. "Thanks, Inuyasha."

She leaned forward and placed her clawed hands on the rock and kissed Inuyasha, who all-too-willingly gave in.

After a few seconds Kagome reached up and grabbed his haori and easily pulled Inuyasha into the water with her hanyou strength, just before she broke their kiss.

She laughed wildly as she watched him collided with the hot spring's surface, sending water splashing all over her.

"What the hell was that for!?" Inuyasha yelled, when he had stood up, soaking wet.

But he wasn't truly angry; she could see it in his eyes. Kagome waded up to him. She slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her bare body to his clothed one. He blushed slightly.

She looked into his amber-golden eyes. "That was for lying to me all those times." she watched the water streak down his cheek.

Inuyasha forgot about being mad and grinned. The blood in his cheeks retreated. Then he placed one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist. The long sleeves of his soaked red haori covered her fair skin.

The youkai smiled a little. "Gomen…_this_ is for letting me watch you"

He kissed her once more, but this time it was different. He parted his lips and ran his tongue across lower lip, begging the demoness to let him show her just how much he loved her, which she gave him, wanting to know.

Her lips parted, their tongues intertwined with one another's, and their heads titled each to one's own side.

Their hold of each other tightened. So warm…it felt _so good_…

They both wished the moment could last forever. If their bodies didn't need to breath in order to continue functioning, they never would've broken that kiss.

Inuyasha smiled slightly after catching his breath. He gently brushed some wet hair away from her face. "I love you, Kagome" the look in his eyes more than proved his words.

The reasons she couldn't explain, Kagome ran her tongue vertically across his lips. It must have been a demon thing because Inuyasha seemed to enjoy it. "I love you back, my Inuyasha."

Kagome leaned her head softly on his shoulder, she sighed, feeling warm in his arms, even though he was all wet.

And they just stood there for many moments holding each other, letting the world around them dissolve.

Finally, Inuyasha smiled self-consciously and remembered that he was in his clothes in a hot spring, soaking wet, and that the naked body of a female was in his grasp. It does things to you.

He brushed one last kiss against her lips when she looked up at him. "See you later, 'kay?"

She smiled "Okay"

He let go of her jumped up on the nearest rock. Inuyasha held up a parting hand before leaping back to the shore and disappearing in the woods. He wrung out his hair with his hands, the smile on his face never once faltering.

Kagome sighed and commenced to take a bath. Immediately she sunk into the water so that it was above her shoulders. She wondered why she was being so bold, I mean, she had just French kissed him in a hot spring! Naked!

…Maybe it was her demonic instincts. Inuyasha had told her about them one day while training. He had said that there were different instincts that controlled different things and kicked in at different times. He had told her that some were good, and some were bad if they ever took over her conscious mind. He had told her that she would have to learn to control them. She remembered him smiling then and saying that they would _both_ have to learn to control them.

Kagome smiled once more as she worked some shampoo into her long hair. Oh well, she didn't really mind being bold about her feelings anymore. No matter what they made her do, she silently confessed with a smile.

"And now, for something completely different." –Monty Python

It was dusk. The mountains were black against the dark pink, and slowly fading into the orange of sun set, sky. The trees were a deep green in the fading daylight.

Sango carefully set her white teacup down on the blanket beneath her, willing it not to spill. The green liquid rippled slightly, then smoothed over. Once assured of the stability of her tea, the slayer looked up, and began to absently study the hoshi sitting across from her.

She only got a few minutes, however, to speculate over the question in her head, because Miroku looked up. He was surprise –and a little frightened– to find that she was staring intently at him.

"Nani?" Miroku asked cautiously.

A smile played across Sango's face. "You're up to something."

He smiled back innocently. "Whatever makes you think that, dear Sango?"

"Perhaps because you've behaving yourself lately…" Sango replied coyly.

True, the usually lecherous young man before her had refrained from acting like his normal self of late. When was the last time he had done something to earn a slap across the face?

Miroku forced himself to look hurt. "Now I feel loved." But the attempt was futile; it just made him look cute instead.

Sango giggled without restraint. Her tension of suspicion dissolved. A smile graced her features as she drew her legs up to her chest and circled her arms around them. She rested her head on her knees.

"Truly." she began bluntly, "What has hindered your perverted ways?"

In return he smiled stealthily, "Well, I don't need to anymore, do I? I mean, now that Naraku is gone, my family's curse has been lifted–

That thought threw her down memory lane, all right. She remembered a few days after Naraku's death, after all the energy had returned to their bodies from the long and draining fight, when they had finally been allowed by Kaede and the other nurses to move once again.

She remembered how he had yelled in alarm when the purple cover suddenly spilled off his right hand. He had grabbed his wrist in attempt to stop the vacuum of winds that was sure to start up immediately. Except it didn't.

They had all been there to witness it, that circle of cohorts, they had watched the monk as he stared with wide and disbelieving eyes as the black void disappeared, leaving only a slightly red scar on his otherwise flawless palm.

He smiled. He smiled brighter and truer than any of the gang had ever seen him smile before.

Sango remembered how Shippo broke the silence and jumped in the air shrieking with joy. She remembered Kagome gasping in delight and grabbing Inuyahsa's arm, holding tightly to him. She remembered seeing Inuyasha's smile.

She remembered herself screaming in victory and running as fast as she could into Miroku's arms…

She blinked and came back.

"Therefore, I don't need to need anyone to bear my child anymore…well…not as soon anyway…" Miroku added.

Sango's eyes narrowed in a piercing glare.

"Okay, okay!" Miroku exclaimed, throwing up his arms defensively. "So I overdid it, a lot…" Slowly he let his self-protection disperse.

The monk sighed, somewhat sadly. He looked away to the left of him to the dimming sky. The dark trees of the forest's edge that the two had set up their way station by was blocking his view to the right. "I suppose it's just not worth it anymore…" he trailed off.

Sango looked at him with curiosity. What was that lonely look in his eyes for? "Why isn't it 'worth it anymore'?" the young woman questioned hesitantly.

"It's not worth it because…" He looked at her, his eyes were like the ocean, deep, warm, and pensive all at the same time. "Because it made you angry with me…" The heart-filled confession was surprisingly calm.

Her eyes widened, she heard the rush of wind in her ears as it blew stray leaves across their path from the forest around them.

Was he saying? …

Sango looked at him with slight apprehension in her eyes. Sango was afraid to find out if Miroku had put her feelings before his personal escapades, because that would signify a terribly frightening cause. She changed the subject. "I was afraid…"

A soft breeze rippled the grass around them.

"For a while I didn't want the final battle with Naraku to come, because I was afraid that when it did…we would all go our separate ways. I was afraid of that."

Her deep brown eyes were painfully legitimate as she spoke. "My life hasn't been the same since I've met you and the others. It's different than the life I used to lead…and yet the same…I like it that way, I think."

Miroku nodded and turned his handsome face to the beautiful waning day and the large clearing that the pair was occupying. "I understand that, I think."

Sango continued, glad for the forest and the field's distraction, so she didn't have to meet his eyes. "I was afraid –I _am_ afraid– of a lot of things. I didn't want to leave you…you and everyone else." Her speech was faltering.

He lowered his gaze back to her, intoxicated, almost, by her words.

"…There is still a lot of things to worry about, things that need fixing. Like –I never told her this– but, I wonder if what Kagome-chan did was right, when she allowed the Jewel to turn her into half-demon, and I wonder if she should try and give it –the demon ness– back, but, then what if she does? …We would still have a problem on our hands…" She didn't even condescend and address the Shikon No Tama by its' name– the thing had caused more than enough trouble to earn itself a bad reputation.

Finally Sango moved her eyes to lock with his; she shifted her stance, twisting towards him in pleadingly. Both of her hands she pushed palm down on the ground.

Her body was stiff with determination; she looked directly into his eyes. "We need to stay together…"

Slowly she softened and leaned away from him slightly. "…Especially some of us…need to stay together."

The slayer drew back her confrontation, and straightened her legs in front of her once more. The girl leaned back her arms. She occupied her eyes with the sky. The top was now painted with dark blue and dotted with a few stars.

Expressions played across Miroku's face as he allowed the subtext of her words to register.

Then he smiled warmly. "Hai…you're right. There are still many fears ahead of us, separation being one of them."

He looked at the setting sun, the golden globe barley visible now. "Still, it puzzles me that you would fear the final victory, Sango, it's so unlike you." He chuckled lightly.

Seconds passed, many seconds.

When Miroku finally looked back at his companion he saw that she was idly gazing ahead of her, her dark eyes blank. A tear slid down her cheek, then another, and another. She was crying.

"Sango?" Miroku asked obviously confused, but not so much so that he was skittish.

No, he moved closer to her as she titled her head down. She wasn't making much sound, and her shoulders weren't moving, but she still was crying, he observed.

Then the huntress felt a warm arm slip around her shoulders and a soft question whispered in her ear.

"He wasn't there…" she whispered in return.

Miroku waited, knowing that if she wanted to talk then she would do so on her own.

And apparently he was right. "Kohaku, he wasn't at Naraku's fortress…"

Suddenly Miroku understood what had caused her mysterious outburst of emotion. Secrets kept inside breed heavy hearts.

Sango raised her head and laughed weakly. "I don't know why I thought he would be…stupid of me, really."

"Iie, iie" Miroku soothed, drawing her closer regardless of whether she wanted him to or not. "He was your brother, you loved him. A will to save another is never misguided."

Sango's tears commenced, but this time she buried her head in Miroku's chest, her hand clutched his robes as if they need something to hold onto to– to make sure there was still something to hold on to…

He wrapped his other arm around her. After holding the slayer for a few gracious moments he felt he had to add to his commentary, to give her a logical explanation to fall back on. "He most likely fled with Kanna and Kagura when Naraku's power began to decline."

Sango relaxed against him, but instead of slipping away she rested her head on the monk's shoulder.

After a while she whispered with closed eyes: "I'm going to have to fight him someday, sō? I'm going to have to kill him." It wasn't a question.

A shadow of regret flickered in Miroku's eyes, bit then it cleared. "Let us confront that when it comes, and not until then, ne?"

Sango looked up at his smiling eyes, and she was never more a where of his arms encircled around her body– she liked it.

The huntress nodded, sighed, and then lowered her head to rest gratefully on his shoulder once more.

It was dark by then. The sun was set, but the pair was warm with their bodies being so close.

"Miroku." She whispered into the darkness.

"Hmmm?" he replied.

"I love you too"

Owari Chapter Jūhachi

Author Notes:

What can I say? I am a sucker for this type of thing, so therefore I write it!

Review! I'm out of here! Walks off singing 'Miracles Happen'


	20. Night Fire

Amehana: okay, this is going to be über fluffy with much cherries, so grab a plushie and your favorite pink pillow and get ready.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha®, life is sad.

Chapter XVIII– Night Fire

(A/N: oh, kami how to start this…)

The night had fallen too early this day for a certain hanyou girl. And the weird part, she had no idea why.

She didn't usually mind begin out at night, but during this particular dark hour she did.

Kagome shivered. What was up with her?! She had been uptight and strangely jumpy all day, letting little things scare her. She had the visage of someone who had stayed up too late watching a particularly descriptive horror flim, and was now suffering the consequences of it. But, of course, there were no televisions in Feudal Japan, and furthermore, no slasher films to cause the imagination to run wide after the lights were turned off.

She took in a deep breath and told herself that she was begin stupid. It was just like any other night in Feudal Japan, true…night here could be scary, but its not like she was ever unprotected.

As that thought came upon her the demoness smiled, 'Well, now, that is.' Claws and quick movements at the ready sometimes proved to be a better defense than her bow and arrows.

Kagome looked at the world around her with mild interest. The beautiful forest was as green as always; the ubiquitous trees around her radiating a sort of natural protection, but at the edge of her vision, where the forest grew dark, one could never know what evils lurked. Still, it was beautiful.

But she couldn't _hear_ anything, and that freaked her out, because the forest wasn't usually quiet…maybe something _was_ wrong…

Then the inu youkai clenched her fist, which was hanging at her side at the time.

'Stop it.' she told herself firmly. 'It's nothing, you're acting like an idiot being scared like this.'

Still…why was she so afraid? Why had she been all day for that matter?

All day…at that Kagome sighed. The day had been spent entirely in the hands of the Shikon No Tama. Kagome's purification of it had claimed all the daylight. Kaede had dismissed her when the sun had fallen and given way to the dark night.

Kagome continued to make her way back to the house for a while. Then, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

Something was wrong all of a sudden. Somehow…somehow she knew what she had feared all day had just now sprung on her.

A chill ran down her spine. She couldn't move. What _was_ this thing?! It wasn't human, it wasn't demon, nor was it a mix of the two. Whatever it was; she didn't like it. Not one little bit. However, it was pointless to try and find out what this feeling, this thing, was, now that it was upon her.

Her breathing rate increased, her sliver-blue eyes widened at some unknown fear before Kagome shut them tightly as though averting her eyes from some gruesome sight. Then her arms crossed over her torso to hug herself as if she was afraid of something. That's when she realized; she was.

Kagome's senses started scream and then…they slowly started to diminish. She could feel them leaving her, and that was possibly the worst feeling she had ever encountered in her entire life…

_What_ was going on?!

_Something_ was pulling on her conscious, a chilling, determined, pulling the very warmth out from inside of her with a steel hand. And she couldn't stop it, no matter how much she fought back with her usually strong will power.

The cold rush peaked to the highest speed and stamina it had ever been. A hard wind picked up through the forest and blew straight at her, colliding with her body at full force. Kagome shut her eyes tighter. She whimpered slightly against the wind and the sickening feeling inside that was stealing her very essence from her soul. She tried with all her power to fight back, fight this thing that was stealing her away, but steadily her powers gave up.

Her heart skipped a beat. She held herself tighter. She prepared for the worst as she felt it upon her.

And then there was silence. Complete and utter silence.

Kagome opened her eyes to find that the stinging wind was totally gone. She started breathing rapidly.

Something was wrong with her. Very wrong. What was that feeling?! What had it done to her?!

She looked around the forest and her arms dropped limply to her sides.

It was so dark. She couldn't see! Well, okay, she _could_ see, but it was as if someone had greatly dimmed the lights on the world. But that was impossible.

The girl could barely see the forest ahead of her and not very far into the trees around her, so dark. Her eyes barely caught it when the leaves of the trees around her swayed eerily in the slight breeze.

Kagome's breathing didn't slow as she staggered back a few, her eyes searching frantically around her, _why_ was her sight so bad?

She felt the ground beneath her bare feet. It wasn't soft and comforting anymore, it was hard and cold and rocky.

She couldn't hear anything, could barley see anything, she couldn't catch any smells in the air, and she couldn't sense any presences around her. None.

'This has to be a bad dream, right?' she asked herself shakily. Kagome chocked as if she were going to burst out in tears.

Then it happened. For reasons she herself couldn't explain she slowly raised one of her hands in front of her face.

Kagome's eyes shot open.

She stared at her hand. Her claws were gone! Yeah. Gone. Just not there! In place of her reliable talons were normal curved human fingernails.

She couldn't stop herself; she screamed.

Just then a voice came out of the trees in front of her. "What?" it said. The voice was male, and worried, though washed with the overtones of annoyance; the recognizable masking of emotions of the one she knew so well. She quickly identified it before Inuyasha even stepped causally out of the trees. Apparently he was coming to meet her on her way back to their house.

Then she saw it. His hair was no longer it's bright sliver-white color, but pitch black. His concerned eyes were violet.

'Inuyasha…' she breathed as she stared at him.

Then Inuyasha took a step backwards in surprise when Kagome ran up to him as fast as she could and buried her face in his chest.

He looked down at her, confused, then realized that she was scared. Of course she was, he could feel her shaking all over.

The boy sighed and wrapped her arms tightly around her. She stopped quivering after he held her for a few moments.

He felt her relax against him, he breathing slowed to a steady pace.

"I'm sorry." he whispered into her completely black hair, which no longer fell past her waist but was just some inches longer than her shoulder. "I should've reminded you this morning."

She shook her head then leaned her cheek against his red robes. "No…I was acting like an idiot." she said, and she was ashamed of herself for freaking out over something like losing her half-demon powers at the new moon.

Inuyasha held her tighter. "No you weren't, its scary the first time, but it'll only last a few hours, okay?" he said reassuringly, looking down into her upturned hazel eyes.

Kagome nodded slowly still unnerved, but she felt better after Inuyasha bent down and kissed her cheek gently.

She sighed exasperatingly and stepped back from him, now accepting the situation.

Then an idea came into her head. She contemplated it as she gazed idly to her side, then she looked at Inuyasha. "I'm going back to my time."

Swiftly she swept past him, and a few quick paces took her out of the forest and onto the green grass of the gentle slope down to the house.

But Inuyasha wasn't amused, and he easily caught up with her. "What?!" he demanded.

Kagome kept walking quickly and didn't look at him as she answered. "Just for tonight. My family hasn't seen me in about three months; I want them to know I'm all right."

Soon both humans had descended the hill. Kagome crossed the courtyard, Inuyasha at her heels. "I'll be back at sunrise," she informed him as she stepped up to the walkway of the right side building.

Inside her room, Kagome found her school uniform (which had been cleansed of all the blood, but she hadn't worn it in awhile because she liked her dress kimono better).

"But why?" The unsatisfied boy asked desperately, he having followed her into the room. "Why does it have to be tonight? I mean, you can do this anytime!"

Kagome spun on him. "No, I can't!" it came out harsher than intended, Inuyasha looked taken aback.

The miko clamed down, and started to fiddle with the clasps on her kimono, not exactly aware of what she was doing. "It has to be tonight, okay, because…ever since I …changed…I've been scared to…" she couldn't finish.

The girl looked away, and Inuyasha was about to press her for more information but stopped when he saw the pain in her eyes. She was shaking again, so badly that she couldn't even undo the buttons.

Inuyasha gave up on getting her to stop from leaving. The boy approached her, then gently took her shaky hands in his and lowered them to her sides. Then he calmly unclasped the bamboo buttons without any inappropriate intentions in mind. He turned to leave, softly sliding the rice paper door shut behind him.

For a moment all Kagome could do was stare at the door from which he had just left. Her now-clawless hands clutching the two separate pieces on the top of her outfit. Slowly she smiled appreciatively. No matter how many times he denied it, Inuyasha was really a nice guy.

Quickly she got a hold of herself and stripped down from her oriental clothes into her school uniform, which seemed strangely foreign as she pulled it on.

After getting fully dressed, she slid open the door to her room and stepped outside, ready to make the journey to the Well.

What she didn't expect was to see Inuyasha leaning indolently on the wall next to her door. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had tied Tetsusaiga to his waist, a pose she had seen him occupy many times.

Kagome eyed him suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

He looked at her with those gorgeous violet eyes. "I'm coming with you." he said simply.

"Why?" the miko protested, although, if asked at the time, she would not have been able to supply a reason why she wanted to go alone.

Fortunately, no one asked.

"Because I am." was Inuyasha's answer.

"But…" Kagome thought up an excuse and glared slightly at her fellow hanyou gone human when one came. "Who's going to look after Shippo? He can't stay here by himself!"

"It's okay, you can drop me off at Kaede-grandma's place." Shippo said, emerging from the next room down as if summoned.

Inuyasha abandoned his leaning and stood up straight to face the chibi "You little twerp! Why were you listening to us?!" he demanded.

Shippo calmly ignored him. "It's okay, Kagome, she wouldn't mind…and besides…" he smiled innocently. "It's better than listening to you two making out."

Kagome blushed and giggled but Inuyasha looked like he wanted nothing more than to kill the little boy with his own two hands.

Then Kagome got a hold of herself, and then she sighed in defeated sort of way. "Okay, fine, you guys win. Come on." and with that she jumped down off the wooden walkway and onto the ground, keeping an eye on the two boys (with about the same maturity level) behind her.

After finding her house key in her yellow backpack (it didn't take very long as the bag wasn't nearly as big as usual) and swinging the unlocked door open, the couple stepped inside the Higurashi residence to find it quiet.

"Hello…anybody here?" Kagome called, looking around curiously.

No answer.

"Guess not." she confirmed, setting her bag down in the entryway like she always did and never was supposed to. She mechanically stepped out of her shoes and pulled off her socks, guess old habits don't die.

The girl walked into the living room at her left and flipped on a light switch. The room instantly lit up, ah, the conveniences of present day.

"I'm going to call my mom, so make yourself comfortable, okay?" Kagome said sincerely, turning to Inuyasha.

As Inuyasha sunk into Kagome's "couch" thing as she left the room to go get that weird "phone" thing (Kami, so much abnormal stuff in her house). He heard her voice in the next room.

"Hey, mom, this is Kagome…"

Far off, but perfectly audible thanks to the lovely wonders of modern technology, Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "Hi dear, long time no see."

"Uh, yeah…sorry about that…" Kagome said nervously twirling some raven hair on her free index finger as she idly strayed back into the living room with the cordless.

She was thinking of something to say to fill the dead air when Mrs. Higurashi spoke from her cell. "Why were you gone for so long this time, anyway?"

"Uh…" Kagome glanced nervously at Inuyasha who smiled slightly. He had heard Kagome's mother's question but…he didn't understand why was she so nervous…

"Well, I've got great news! We've got all the pieces of the jewel back together." After saying that, Kagome sweat dropped. That sounded _so_ stupid.

But her mom exclaimed. "That's wonderful! Congratulations!"

"…Yeah, thanks…" Kagome said dully. "…Anyway I just thought I'd come home tonight and…er…Inuyasha's here too."

On the other side Mrs. Higurashi smiled into the receiver, her free hand at twelve o'clock on the steering wheel to make up for the hand that was holding her phone to her ear. "All right."

"So…where is everybody?" Kagome asked, leaning on the back of the couch.

"Well…I'm picking up Sota up from Nakama's house–"

At that Kagome rolled her hazel eyes. Sota and all his little friends were _so_ annoying…and loud. Then she looked slightly over her shoulder at Inuyasha, who was could also be annoying and loud.

'Then again…never mind' Kagome thought affectionately with a smile.

"–And Ji-chan Grandpa is at the Toshigawa Temple, we're going to go get him then we're going to go to the grocery store."

"Okay…cool." Kagome wondering why the heck that was cool… "So, when are you going to be home?"

"Well…in an hour and thirty minutes or so." Mrs. Higurashi answered, glancing at the clock at her side.

"Okay" Kagome said.

"Well, I guess we'll see you later then, all right, dear?"

"All right, bye mom."

"Bye sweetie."

Mrs. Higurashi clicked her cell phone off and placed it back in her purse with ease.

"Who was that?" asked a now thirteen-year-old Sota, sitting in the back seat, asked without looking up from his laser-green Gameboy.

"You're sister, she's back."

"Cool." the boy answered, the blue light of the game lighting his apt face, apt to the game of course.

"Inuyasha's with her." Mrs. Higurashi said.

"Cool." Sota repeated, but this time it was a little more sincere; he thought of the half-demon as an older brother.

But after the synapses fired and the cognitive process occurred, he pressed pause on his game and looked up at his mother suspiciously. "Wait…they're both at the house, alone, and you're going to just _let_ them? They like each other, you know…"

"I know." she smiled, glancing up at her son's face in the rear view mirror, "I was young once too, you know" she said, a strange and mischievous tone in her voice.

Sota blinked with mock surprise. "Really!?"

Mrs. Higurashi threw a random (easily reached) book at her son playfully.

The white phone beeped merrily as Kagome clicked it off. She disappeared momentarily to hang it up then came back into the living room and plopped down on the sofa.

She sighed involuntarily, not realizing how forlorn she looking gazing in front her blankly, focusing on but not thinking about the decorations on the walls, the grains of wood that ran across the floor…

"What's up?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome blinked and looked at him as if surprised that he was there. "Huh?'

He studied her, indifference on his face, but you could bet your Shikon shards that his apathy was all an act. "You're worried about something…you have been since we got here…"

Kagome straightened defensively. "I am not! And besides you can't _prove_ it…not tonight anyway." (A/N: wolves can smell emotions, pretty cool, huh?)

Inuyasha smiled slightly, arrogant but amused. "I don't need to have my sense of smell to know what you're thinking, Kagome."

Haphazardly, he reached to her and stroke her midnight black hair, the need of his hands to touch her too great to resist. No one was here, no enemy to take advantage of the connection between the two, no one to see him express his true feelings in the only way he knew how.

Kagome gave in and closed her eyes. She allowed her body to relax and her stubborn front to dissolve. "Why is that?" she said in a sigh.

He smiled. "I dunno…" His eyes caught hers; they were not the same color as they usually were, but they still made her catch her breath when they locked with hers, pouring into her soul, all her unsatisfied desired there for him to see.

Inuyasha's temporarily clawless hand brushed the tips of Kagome's hair, but his hand reached for her once more as Kagome crawled closer and kissed his lips.

Kagome sighed against him, knowing she probably looked extremely awkward on all fours…she may have been human then, but the girl got the feeling that she would never be able to repress the habits that came with her half-demon body ever again…oh well…

Inuyasha's arms secured themselves around Kagome's waist, and she willingly allowed them to pull her into his lap. She slipped her arms around his neck.

They kissed again.

Kagome's fingers gently entangled in Inuyasha's dark hair, since when did she love him so much? A few years ago just thinking this kind of thing called up a bright red rush of blood to her cheeks. Now she was living what she once was so sure she would never be capable of doing…

And the weirdest part was, she wasn't satisfied yet.

She felt his tongue touch her lips. She sucked in her breath as she felt his tongue arouse hers into deepening their kiss.

The butterflies in Kagome's stomach suddenly vanished into a wonderful igniting sensation that she hadn't ever felt before. The girl knew her companion felt it too when their kiss broke and he sort of moaned softly against her in ecstasy.

Inuyasha began to nuzzle her neck adoringly before abandoning that for something much more passionate. Kagome's eyes closed and she sighed as she felt his lips pressed against her skin.

Her fingers began to enlace themselves in the locks of his dark hair once again as his current kiss turned into open passion, his tongue caressing the area with vigor. She made the same murmur of longing as her partner had just done minutes before, as she buried her face in his hair. Inuyasha kissed her anywhere the collar of her uniform would allow. She could really get used to this…

For the first time in both their lives, it seemed, time had slowed down so that they could enjoy ever moment of this current situation.

Suddenly Kagome's arms were slipping around Inuyasha's neck as they slowly lay down on the blue couch, positively joined at the lips.

Inuyasha's body was on top of hers, but he was supporting himself with his arms, which were tucked securely around his love's slender waist. He felt the curves of her body against his, it would soon be too much to take…

This foreign thing was blissfully becoming less and less foreign to them with every move. Inuyasha traced a trail of little kisses down Kagome's neck. She sighed then took his face gently in her hands to return his love, slowly pressing kisses all over his face, he moved in accordance when she moved down to his neck. Inuyasha's eyes fell shut, and when Kagome pulled away, he moved from his current position to snuggle into the couch next to Kagome.

For a second they just stared into each other's eyes while trying to make up for lost breath, letting themselves get lost in the depths of emotion…Inuyasha smiled affectionately and ran a gentle hand down her face then through a lock of black hair.

She smiled right back before leaning into him for another kiss, a long, deep, drawn out one for that matter. Kagome began to wonder if it was his body making her so hot, or was it own?

Temporarily satisfied, they pulled away. Kagome closed her hazel eyes when Inuyasha snuggled into her and nuzzled her neck. He moved upward, loose strands of her black hair fell over his pale skin. Kagome giggled when he gently nipped on her ear, then fell into an appreciative, drawn out, hum as Inuyasha instead began to tease the tip of her human with his tongue and his lips, all the while having no idea where the skill for these impulses was coming from.

After he broke away Kagome pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his, burying her tongue deep into the delicious kiss.

She sat up suddenly, and he followed her. Playfully they kissed each other's lips over and over. Kagome giggled when they ceased, leaned in and claimed Inuyasha's lips for her own in a passionate kiss once again.

They seemed to have stumbled on what the bounds love could give them and they were hooked on it as if it were an addictive drug. They couldn't seem to stop.

Inuyasha suddenly seemed to lose control of his hands as he kissed her…they began to flow over Kagome's smooth legs and up to her thighs, slowly and seductively his hand inch up Kagome's skirt…and slowly he regained himself; finally coming to the realization that he could very possibly be crossing some boundaries. He gasped inwardly, opened his eyes and jerked back away from Kagome.

He was blushing furiously. "Sorry."

But Kagome just smiled and told him he was cute. Inuyasha's surprise (and embarrassment) faded when she kissed him once again.

Snaking his arms around her he allowed his body to sink back into the soft cushions of the sofa, Kagome's body was light on top of his.

Kissing deeply in passion the couple continued for as long as was humanly possible. Inuyasha tried his luck once more and placed his hands into the inside of Kagome's blouse; she had to suppress a shiver at the wonderful feel of his skin against hers. She knew should tell him to stop but it felt _so good_; they were both suffering from terrible hormone poisoning.

Kagome's hands had been stroking Inuyasha's soft hair, but moved as the couple switched sides of their kiss. Inuyasha groaned deeply for a moment as Kagome began to touch him in what would soon be inappropriate places, every centimeter she moved was another break in the restraint to go farther. He kissed her.

It was awhile before Kagome pulled away, breaking the long lip lock. Inuyasha pushed himself into an upward position, trying desperately to ignore the sensation he was getting from Kagome's legs (they were straddling his waist because he had sat up).

Brushing some stray hair away from her face, he kissed her cheek gently. "We have to stop…" he whispered, saying those words was the most reluctant thing done.

Kagome rested her head softly on his shoulder, "Why?"

"Because…if we keep going something's going to happen, and it can't happen here." he explained, but his words sounded forced.

Kagome sighed, a slight whine in her voice. He presented a good point.

She pulled away to look into his violet eyes. She affectionately tucked his black hair behind his ears. Suddenly she realized she was tired, or, more so, any and all stresses had been taken away. "Were we doing that?"

He smiled mischievously "I don't know, _were_ we?"

Kagome smiled back just before Inuyasha leaned in and kissed her one last time. They held onto each other for as long as they could, then Kagome slowly pulled out of Inuyasha's lap.

Reluctantly she got off the couch and stood, "I'm going upstairs to take a shower," she smiled innocently, "So we don't look suspicious, 'kay?"

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile back, he nodded. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his black hair, pulling it away from his face, concentrating hard on the remnants of what was left of his demon power, forcing it to shut down the powerful feelings running through him. It's much harder for a boy to hide a recent make-out session from others knowing what has ensued than it is for a girl, if you know what I mean. The boy listened to Kagome's departure from the room, and she was about to climb the staircase when the front door opened and in came the rest of Kagome's family.

Her mother exclaimed "Okari-nasai Welcome home , Kagome!" before hugging her long-missed daughter.

Kagome shot a look towards Inuyasha, that clearly said "perfect timing" before embracing her mother back. He couldn't his mouth from twitching into a faint smile when he caught it. "Tada-ima, mama!" Kagome exclaimed I have just now returned, don't ask me why the Japanese have a reply to 'Welcome home' because I don't know .

Her mother pulled away and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders to look over her once. She smiled, Kagome smiled reflexively back, and her mother let go of her. The same greeting-hugging thing repeated two times before it was over.

"Kaban-wan good evening Inuyasha." Mrs. Higurashi said to the black haired boy in the living room before ushering Kagome's grandfather to kitchen with their paper grocery bags, as the old priest was giving the boy a very suspicious glare.

"Oniisan!" Older brother Sota cried at sighting his hero in the flesh and racing into the living room.

"Hey." Inuyasha said, half way between excited and bored as he stood to greet the little boy.

Sota stopped and stared at him, suddenly wide-eyed, "What happened to you?! You look…human." he said, utterly bewildered.

Inuyasha smiled up at Kagome for a second, who had followed her little brother back into the front room. "That's because I am."

Sota looked like he had just been told his best friend had died.

"But only for tonight." Kagome jumped in to explain.

Inuyasha nodded in agreement, "It happens to half-demons, every month…"

Sota sigh with relief "Oh, good." Suddenly the little boy got a terrifying notion in his head. He swiveled on his heels to face his older sister. He cocked an eyebrow at her neck. "What's that?" he asked.

Kagome's eyes shot open wide, and her hand immediately flew to cover a certain spot on her neck. "Nothing!" she said loudly in her (and Inuyasha's, teeheehee) defense.

Behind him, Sota caught Inuyasha suddenly trying to smooth out his hair, which had been at the mercy of Kagome's fingers.

Sota eyed the two people at each of his sides with disgust. "Mom is _so_ stupid." he grumbled in disapproval as he rolled his eyes and quickly bounded out of the room. He made audible throwing up sounds all the way up to his room.

Kagome blushed and buried her giggling face in her hands. She peeked out at Inuyasha through a gap in her fingers. She caught him laughing a little, his eyes downcast to the floor, but lively still.

"I'm going upstairs now…" Kagome said, smiling brightly.

The girl tapped her head with a pencil lightly as she contemplated; she looked up from her homework over to the boy sitting at her right. "How would you 'Describe the juxtaposition between Mark Twain's 'A Tale of Two Cities' and Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectation's'?"

He stared at her blankly. "That makes my head hurt."

She laughed tiredly, "That makes two of us." Gathering her papers, books, and such in her arms she stood and walked over to her desk at the opposite of the room. After dumping the assortment of school supplies on its surface she sat back down on her bed and leaned on Inuyasha's shoulder.

She closed her eyes. "Stupid English…I don't even speak that language, so why do I have to study it?"

Inuyasha didn't answer, as he didn't have much understanding of what she was talking about.

She sat up and leaned her head against the wall her bed was up against. In the soft glow of her bedside table lamp she scanned her room. Why did it look so…alien?

Seconds passed and Kagome allowed her eyes to stray to the walls of the bedroom. "Hey, Inuyasha…thanks for coming with me." Kagome said with a small smile.

He leaned his head against her wall, looking at her sideways. The boy smiled too, except his was more of a smirk. "You acted like you didn't want me to come…"

"Sorry…"

Inuyasha shrugged, then smiled. "I wasn't about to let you walk all the way back to the well by yourself." His smile melted and he sighed. "Especially not tonight."

At that his voice trailed off and he glanced out her window, where the moonless night was scattered with stars, but not too many stars, he noticed.

Kagome sighed too and got the same forlorn look in her eyes as Inuyasha had. She found herself looking at the hands that could no longer protect her. "I can see now why you hate these nights…it's so weird…I mean, I've been a human for eighteen years and I'm scared…" she trailed off also.

Breaking the awkward aura, Kagome yawned. "And tired"

"So go to sleep." Inuyasha returned, smirking again.

Kagome was so tired, in fact, that she didn't even catch the underlining banter in his words. She shook her head weakly. "I can't, I've got too much homework–"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"And" Kagome added, looking at him with her sleepy hazel eyes, "You never sleep when you're like this, so why should I?"

"Because" Inuyasha replied, "I've been doing that all my life, _you_ on the other hand, haven't " He softened. "I'm used to it, I probably couldn't sleep on these nights, even if I tried…"

"Why?" A barely conscious Kagome asked.

"Because…I'm afraid…" Inuyasha answered shamelessly.

Kagome blinked at him. He was very complex, come to think of it. She yawned involuntarily again.

Inuyasha smiled "Go to sleep, Kagome." gently he pushed her down on the bed.

Kagome shook her head groggily, and then made herself comfortable. Her eyelids slowly shut.

Inuyasha leaned over her peaceful form and clicked off her lamp. A tired smile played across Kagome's lips when he whispered, "I'll protect you…"

Inuyasha sat on her bed, his back against the wall, just watching Kagome sleep, she was always beautiful, half demon or not.

Minutes passed in silence, then he heard the creak of wood as someone was coming up the stairs. The light of the hallway trailing into Kagome's dark room by her open door revealed Mrs. Higurashi carrying something in her hand.

Inuyasha's eyes widened in alarm; it was a little more than suspicious for a boy to be in girl's room at night, let alone on her bed, _with her_.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled graciously and held up a hand to stop him from jumping up off the bed as she entered.

"It's okay" she softly, her voice was perfect: quiet enough not to wake Kagome but just loud enough to be audible. "If I didn't trust you, then I would've stopped my little girl from jumping down that well years ago…" she said, a hint of laughter in her voice and eyes.

Inuyasha relaxed: she made sense.

Mrs. Higurashi crossed to Kagome's desk and set down her burden; it was Kagome's yellow backpack that she had left downstairs earlier. He watched as she straightened up Kagome's desk, in a few minutes she had skillfully turned chaos into order.

Then, finding nothing else to occupy her hands with, she sat down on the edge of Kagome's bed opposite Inuyasha.

"So" started making polite conversation. "How have you been lately?"

"Good, I guess." Inuyasha replied, what else do you say when someone asks that vague question?

Mrs. Higurashi nodded. "I haven't seen you in a while." she glanced at her slumbering daughter, "Either of you". There was sadness in her eyes.

Inuyasha suddenly felt like it was his fault that Kagome's mom rarely saw her. "Sorry…" he said softly, looking down a bit. "Uh…thanks for dinner." he had to shape his voice to match Mrs. Higurashi's controlled volume.

She smiled and all the sorrow vanished from her face, although Inuyasha couldn't tell if it was forced or not. "You're welcome."

Kagome's okasan resituated herself on the foot of Kagome's bed, crossing her legs in front of her.

She placed her chin in her palm, staring at Kagome in the near-pitch dark. "So…she told me that it's all over, your task and everything."

Inuyasha's eyes also strayed to Kagome. "Yeah, it is."

"So…I suppose she can stop playing super hero back there then, huh?"

Inuyasha gulped without meaning to. "Uh…yeah, I guess…" He didn't think it was probable that Kagome would suddenly stop going to the Feudal Era, he didn't _want_ to think that it was probable.

"But, if we want to be practical, then I suppose she'll still stay there most of the time, won't she?" Mrs. Higurashi sat up and turned her face back to Inuyasha's.

He was surprised to see that she was smiling, but the smile was too slight, and it was backed by sadness. It was the smile of someone who was helpless to change something, no matter how great their will to change it was. Mrs. Higurashi was a strong person, just like her daughter. He nodded.

"Thought so." The woman sighed, and once again looked at Kagome, perhaps she was trying to soak up as much of her as she could while she was still here. "She's amazing, you know." she said suddenly.

Inuyasha blinked startled by the sudden change of topic, but it didn't leave him too baffled to process an answer, "I know".

"She's very independent, she always has been. The fact that she has to lead two lives has never taken its toll on her; it would on anybody else."

In the darkness Inuyasha smiled. Kagome _was_ amazing, he knew that through and through.

"But…" Mrs. Higurashi's tone suddenly turned morbid. "Not for much longer, I think."

That scared Inuyasha for some reason, "What do you mean?" he sounded a little shaken.

Kagome's mother's eyes glanced sideways at the towering pile of homework on her daughter's desk. "She stays in the Feudal Era longer every time she goes there." She finally looked back to Inuyasha, looked into his violet eyes. "In this time school is a very important thing, and this year most teenagers Kagome's age are supposed to graduate (A/N: I'm sorry if I'm wrong about this; I have no idea where to get the information), that means the end of schooling…and the beginning of living."

Inuyasha felt Kagome's burden weighing down on his own shoulders.

"Here, in this time, people train all their lives to become something, then they either become it or fail…" Mrs. Higurashi's eyes left (a grateful) Inuyasha to stare absently in the darkness of Kagome's room. "I don't think Kagome knows what she wants to be, and I don't even know if she could graduate on all her zeros from absences…but she's going to have to make a choice soon, on what she wants to do, which path she wants to follow, which life is she going to choose? I don't think she can continue with two anymore…"

There was silence in the room.

Kagome's okasan looked back at the sleeping girl. "She knows that she's going to have to pick one, but she's not telling anyone, because she doesn't want anyone to worry about her…"

Inuyasha sighed; this was way too heavy to talk about according to him. He leaned his head against the white wall behind him in emotional fatigue. He stared out of Kagome's window.

"Kagome doesn't like it when people worry about her, she never really has." Mrs. Higurashi was surprised to hear him say.

"Hai, that's true." The middle-aged woman ran her fingers lightly through her short hair. Her kind eyes looked into Inuyasha's exotic purple ones. "How old are you, Inuyasha?" she asked randomly.

"Uh…" He stopped being surprised when he saw the calmness in her eyes; she simply wanted to know. "I'd have to think about that…"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled as warmly as the lamp in the hallway. "Now, I know you're not so old to have forgotten your age."

Inuyasha cocked his head to one side.

Kagome's mom smiled again; her daughter was right, he _was _cute.

Inuyasha leaned his head back against the wall once again. If he subtracted all the years he had been frozen in time on that tree and then how long half-demons live compared to humans…it was about "Nineteen." he said, looking back at Kagome's okasan.

She placed her chin her folded hands and nodded approvingly.

The boy across from her interrupted her thoughts. "Why do you want to know?"

"I suppose every mother wants to keep tabs on the man their daughter is in love with." She answered bluntly.

In the light of the hallway outside of Kagome's room she saw little red lines of embarrassment color in his cheeks. He looked away from her, "You know that?"

She laughed softly at his sudden display of emotion, "Of course I know, it's part of my job."

Slowly he allowed himself to look at her. She continued, her eyes shining with the happiness of resurfacing memories. The woman sighed, "I remember, there were times when she would come home and she was so depressed that I thought she would never get herself out of it…"

Inuyasha looked down, ashamed because he knew he had most likely caused that unhappiness in Kagome.

Kagome's mother continued without noticing, "But then there were other times when she would come home so happy that she couldn't stop herself from telling me all about how you were sweet to her…" she glanced at him, her eyes still shining, "Or how you saved her life."

That didn't help his blush recede.

Mrs. Higurashi glanced back at her daughter, then to Inuyasha. "You are always welcome here, you know."

He forgot about being embarrassed. "Really?"

Mrs. Higurashi looked surprised that he would question the fact that someone wanted him around. "Yes, really, you are always with Kagome and Sota simply adores you." She smiled a motherly smile. "I like you too."

He blinked. "But…uh…I'm a–

Somehow she knew what he was going to say and cut him off, "What you are on the outside doesn't matter, dear."

Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Kagome's ojisan doesn't seem to think that."

Mrs. Higurashi waved her father's name away, "Don't let him bother you." she assured him.

Then the woman looked over at the red digits glowing in the dark of Kagome's room. She sighed out of tiredness and got to her feet. "Well, it's late" in the doorway she paused and looked back at the dark-haired boy still sitting innocently on her daughters' bed. "See you in the morning." Did a more trusting mother ever live?

He nodded. Inuyasha looked over to Kagome, someone in the house clicked off the hallway light so that the dark was complete. He could barely see her chest rising and falling due to his lax human eyes.

Hours later, when dawn crept over the horizon and the rays of the sunlight seeped in through the trees in Kagome's backyard, He watched the magic of the new day change his companion. The extrinsic blue highlights returned to her hair, which once again gained its extended length. Her fingernails changed back into the handy weapons they had been the day before. And her ears went from curved to pointed to running up to the top of her head.

Her looked down to see his own claws back, and the tips of his black hair disappearing as it turned into its rightful silver state.

In the weak light of dawn he allowed himself to finally lie down next to Kagome and slip her arms around her waist. As he fell asleep he couldn't get Mrs. Higurashi's words out of his head, _"You are always welcome here, you know."_

Owari Chapter Jūkyū

Amehana: hello to all my loyal fans! Happy three days after election day, well, that may not be that day for you as you read this, but it certainly is for me…but I refuse to talk about that as I don't want to get stoned for my party affiliation and truly I am tired of it, and I can't even vote yet!

I am soooooooooooooooo sorry to all of you for not posting in so long; I try my best to post a new chapter every Friday but sometimes my stupid internet isn't working, or I just forget to, despite the millions of post-it notes I have up everywhere in my room. So, the point is that I apologize, and I just want you to know I would never abandon any fic, as I find that against my morals.

Speaking of fics, if you find anything wrong with mine, no one likes to get criticized, but I _am_ always willing to learn something new. I also have no good fics to read myself & I really need some, so if you know of any uber romantic uber good Inuyasha stories than it would be grand if you would leave a note of it in your reviews…that is if I look at them. You see, frequently my MSN isn't working, and I'm also afraid of flames. Lol, sad, but true.

Meh…need sleep…just review people.

Oh yeah, Night Fire is the name of an Irish punk rock band, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


	21. The Showing Of Scars

Amehana: Hello people. How you looking, girls? SO GOOD!

I am so sorry for not updating in so long! I really am. I don't know what came over me but whatever it was it was bad. My friend told me that my story had been deleted from the archives! GASP. I will do my best to fix that ASAP. I promise. Thank you for sticking with me.

"Fubuki hodo "As the storm rages

Chika yori soe ba Our drawing closer

Atataka shi" Keeps us warm"

–Japanese Haiku

Chapter XX– The Showing Of Scars

The rays of sunlight crept through the blinds in small bursts of yellow, creating an orange-red haze inside Kagome's closed eyelids.

When she finally blinked her eyes open, she didn't know where she was at first. Then the sleepiness began to where off, and she remembered; the new moon, coming home, Inuyasha.

She almost giggled. The restored hanyou girl rolled over and smiled at the way the soft light of morning made the boy next to her look so innocent, sleeping at her side as he was. He was so cute…especially his ears…

And suddenly, Kagome screamed. Her hand immediately went to her mouth to cut it off, but Inuyasha, of course, awoke with a start. Drawing in a fast breath and opening his eyes, he sprung out of his previous position and sat up. His hands, claws restored, went to the hilt of Tetsusaiga, all of which came as a second nature.

However, he immediately calmed down when he realized that there _was_ no threat, either that or the scream that had woken him was aimed at some invisible enemy, not likely. Inuyasha sighed tiredly and leaned back against Kagome's wall, all defenses dropped.

"What was that for?" he growled while rubbing his delicate ears. But the addressed wasn't even paying attention to him. She had jumped up on her knees and was studying her alarm clock, staring at the numbers with unbelieving eyes.

"It's, like, seven-thirty!" she exclaimed in jumble of words.

"You can tell time, congratulations." he replied slyly.

"No!" Kagome snapped back at him, "We were supposed to be gone _hours_ ago." With that she was about to get off the bed, but she was stopped short by Inuyasha's next question:

"Why?"

Her actions ceased as if time had froze, "Um…" he had caught her there, "Because…"

The girl stood, well, she _meant_ to stand, actually, but she didn't get that far. Because two clawed hands firmly, but gently still, took hold of her waist. "I don't think so." were the words she heard before Inuyasha pulled her back towards him and then skillfully pushed her down onto her back, pinning her down on the bed. (A/N: heh, kinky)

Kagome glared up at him, "_What_ do you think you're doing?" she demanded, his hands on her wrists, his body poised above hers in what could look like a very questionable arrangement.

"I should ask you the same question," he returned, smiling at her with a light in his eyes; his restraining hands relaxed a little "What are so afraid of?"

"Nothing!" Kagome almost yelled.

"Prove it.", Inuyasha smirked.

Suddenly Kagome freed her arms and then had her claws fixed threateningly Inuyasha's neck. "How about I kill you instead?" the inu-oni growled through clenched teeth.

His genuine smile never faded. "You wouldn't."

"Are you saying I can't?"

"No, I'm saying you won't."

Kagome stared at him for a moment, and then her anger faded. Her body relaxed and her hands dropped to her sides. The miko looked away, suddenly finding the wall next to her bed very interesting.

Inuyasha sighed, moved from the repressing pose and leaned against the same wall that was so capturing Kagome's attention.

"What are you scared of, Kagome?" he repeated softly.

The girl sighed, the sound heavy with dejection. She sat up and leaned against the wall that the head of her bed was pushed against. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees like she always did when she wanted simply fall into herself, away from the world.

The demoness still didn't meet her cohort's concerned eyes. "I just…" she began and then stopped there as if it were painful to speak, "What if, what if they don't…accept me? What if they don't accept me as a…half-demon?" her voice was quavering.

"Who?" Inuyasha asked.

"My family!" the girl shot back, finally locking eyes with him, "Mom, and Sota, and Ji-chan…they don't know about this, they're not used to this! They all live in a civilized world of protection and regularity, they haven't seen the things that we've seen. They…they wouldn't understand…" Her silver-blue eyes were now completely filled with pain.

"Kagome" Inuyasha breathed in unrestrained sympathy. He moved closer to her, "Why wouldn't they accept you? It's not like you're a different person…you've just changed on the outside…that's all."

"I don't know…" Kagome moaned, looking away "But, like Grandpa, he doesn't like you for being a half-demon" in mid-sentence she gasped and blushed a little at her own words.

"Sorry…" she muttered, facing Inuyasha again.

To her surprise, he smiled "I don't care. It's not like I hadn't noticed. It's kind of funny the way he's always glaring at me and stuff."

Kagome giggled, "Yeah, it is isn't it?" she smiled, the mood lightening a little. Inuyasha reached over to her and lovingly brushed a loose lock of hair out of her face.

"Kagome, they're your family…_I_ don't know what that is…" the look in her eyes darkened a little; she hadn't thought of it that way. "I don't have a family" Inuyasha stopped and allowed a small smile to illuminate his face. "Well, except you." She smiled back.

He continued, gazing into her eyes. "But you can't just desert them because you're afraid…and you know that…"

How did he do that? She thought as she studied him. How could read her thoughts like they were written on paper? The girl slowly nodded. She sighed in a mix of emotion. "Yeah…you're right…"

"Mom?"

"In the kitchen, love." Mrs. Higurashi answered in a yell, "You and Inuyasha come down here for breakfast." the woman commanded in that motherly way of hers.

Outside of the room, in the hallway, Kagome gulped and didn't reply at first. Her voice was shaky as she forced herself to say, "Um…there's something I have to tell you …"

Mrs. Higurashi didn't pause from her cooking, "Okay, dear."

The girl gulped once again. Kagome looked behind her to Inuyasha, who was standing there, as cool as ever, with an amused little smile on his face. She looked at him nervously, with the words 'I don't want to do this!' clearly etched on her face.

He smiled even more, and in one spilt second he had nudged her into the kitchen with his head in a very inu-like fashion. Eyes closed tightly, hands wringing each other, and with the nervous fists pressing against the top of her kimono-dress, Kagome stumbled into the room.

She didn't _see_ the look on her mother's face, but she did hear the frying pan hit the stovetop burner with a harsh clang, and the heart-wrenching gasp. Not to mention her Ji-chan's distressed cry, and Sota's "whoa!" and a crash as his chair hit the floor. (A/N: don't tell me that they sit on the floor I _know_ that, but they're in the kitchen, not the more formal dining room). The sounds however, forced her to open her eyes.

Sota got to her first. "Kagome, what happened, you look SO COOL!" he yelled, practically jumping up and down.

"Well" Kagome's hand went to the back of her head in nervousness. "To make long story short, the Shikon No Tama had too much…uh…evil and it needed to get rid of some, so I, kinda volunteered my body…" A small sweat drop formed on her head as her arms fell back to her side.

"Kakkoi!" cool Her little brother exclaimed. "So you're a demon, now?"

"Only half!" Kagome corrected.

"Just like oniisan…" Sota breathed in awe.

"Uh, yeah." the miko replied, turned around half way to see her Inuyasha leaning casually in the doorway, that same cocky smile on his face.

"You have claws!" Sota cried blissfully, Kagome gave the "Duh, my stupid younger sibling" look, but that didn't put a damper on his spirits. "Do you have fangs too?"

Kagome smiled almost involuntarily, flashing her white incisors.

"Okay, son let the mother through." Mrs. Higurashi said calmly while she gently moved Sota aside so that she could get through.

The woman studied her daughter for a long moment, too long for Kagome. "I knew you were hiding something…" Mrs. Higurashi commented. When she looked back into her apprehensive daughter's face, she smiled. "But _this_ certainly is a surprise." her eyes were laughing.

Kagome's shoulders relaxed and she couldn't stop herself from smiling back as relief flooded over her.

"You look very pretty." her mother said softly.

Kagome threw her arms around her. Mrs. Higurashi looked startled by the sudden display of affection, but she held her child back all the same, grinning at the hanyou boy behind Kagome.

When they pulled Mrs. Higurashi placed her hands on each of Kagome's shoulders. "You're taller than I am!" she cried.

Kagome smiled. Then her eyes went from her mother's face to the Grandfather's as he appeared at his daughter's side. His eyes were terribly critical when his time came to survey Kagome. "So, how did this happen again?"

"The Shikon Jewel, Ji-chan, the thing I've been hunting after for, like, forever…" he nodded, stoned face, Kagome continued, Inuyasha could tell she was getting nervous again, "Well, we got all the pieces back together but it had become too impure and Midoriko –the priestess trapped inside– said that someone had to take some of the evil…or else it would escape into the world…"

Kagome's grandfather cocked a bushy eyebrow " 'someone'?"

Kagome sighed, now that the anxiety was gone, she was getting annoyed in a very teenager girl sort of way instead, "I was the only one who could do it, Ji-chan." She explained as calmly as possible. Kagome knew if he asked too many questions and picked her apart then she might break down and cry. She may have had a defense but it was very fragile.

The old man didn't look satisfied. In fact his eyes flashed over to the half-demon boy who was still leaning on the opening to their kitchen, arms crossed over his chest. The accusation in Grandpa's eyes was "And why didn't _you_ do something about this?"

Inuyasha just smirked (no surprise there) rather than comment. So Kagome's family was going to cope with her change, he complied, but her grandfather blamed him for it, which was just fine with him.

"Kagome, can I touch your ears?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, her voice like a little girls'. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, 'here we go again'.

"Uh…" Kagome said as she unconsciously took a step backwards.

"They're really sensitive" Inuyasha finished for her. Kagome shot him an appreciative glance.

"Oh, okay." was Mrs. Higurashi's ambiguous reply. She didn't look disappointed at all as her shining eyes flitted to her daughter and then to Inuyasha, full of knowing. "Well" she said, changing the subject and clapping her hands together. "I'll bet everyone's hungry!"

"If they're still fighting then I'm turning around." Sango muttered, her brown eyes narrowing in a sort of glare.

"Running away from our problems, are we?" Miroku replied cleverly, his staff jingled with each step he took.

"Yes." Sango answered without hesitation. "Care to join me?"

"Absolutely."

They entered a clearing in the bright green forest in which they were walking, a particular wood that was relatively close to their house, just in time to see Inuyasha and Kagome, _fighting_. Physically, that is.

Smack! Kagome pinned the boy on the ground her knees clamped on either side of his hips, rendering him unable to move. Both half-demons were growling deeply in their throats at each other, fangs bared and all.

Just when the demoness thought she had the upper hand in the match, Inuyasha caught her off guard when he lithely wrapped his leg around the front of her waist and pushed _her_ to the ground with his strength.

Kagome's back hit the dirt and Inuyasha's was over her, smirking at his win. She narrowed her eyes and prepared to counter, when she heard the familiar voice of a formerly absent friend.

"Okay, I'm leaving." Came the clipped resolution.

For the first time the two inuyoukai's noticed that they had an audience. "Sango-chan! Miroku-sama!" Kagome cried and jumped up to her feet, (as Inuyasha had backed away from her).

The slayer turned around, "Kagome-chan, _why_ can't you two just get along?" her tone was worn out.

The girl stopped in her tracks, confused. She glanced at Inuyasha as he walked up to her side; he shrugged.

"Oh!" Kagome suddenly exclaimed in epiphany, "You mean, iie, Inuyasha and I aren't fighting anymore! We were just training." She gestured to the clearing around them.

Then Sango and Miroku exchanged glances. "Really." Inuyasha reassured them.

"Prove it." Sango said curtly.

"Um…how?" Kagome said flatly.

"Start making out." the monk in the group suggested without reserve. Sango hit his arm. "Ouch…" he whined while rubbing the spot.

Inuyasha and Kagome blushed in unison. Sango couldn't stop from laughing at them; it was strange that such an odd suggestion would elicit such embarrassment in the unruly pair, but who knew what changes had lapsed since she had been gone? Kagome would surely have to fill her in, and Kagome wouldn't be the only one with stories to tell. Anything was possible.

"Okay, we believe you". The slayer decided for both the monk and herself, knowing, somehow that he agreed. That was one of the perks of recently tied bond between them. She walked over to Kagome and embraced her, "I'm glad." she said to the inu-onis when she had pulled away.

"Okarinasai, both of you" Kagome said, looking to Miroku and then Sango. They bowed their heads towards her slightly, as was custom as well as habit.

"Well!" Miroku said suddenly uppity, "We need to go unpack our things". Sango nodded and joined him as he dismissed himself and started to walk in the opposite direction. She turned to wave at Kagome as they walked away and then disappeared into the thick woods on the pathway to the house.

Kagome stared at where they had dispersed. "They're…different…" she said, thinking out loud.

Next to her, the demon nodded. "Yeah…"

"They seem to be getting along better themselves…"

"Yeah, but it's something else too…"

"Yeah…"

Silence. Then Inuyasha's golden eyes widened, he kind of swayed to the side. "Holy shit" he said, breathless.

"What?" Kagome asked, looking at him intently. She hated not understanding something.

There was this mischievous glitter in his amber eyes when he looked at her. "They're scents are mixed together, but only slightly, so it was only a few days ago…"

Kagome cocked a thin black eyebrow at him questioningly.

"Or maybe a few _nights_ ago I should say…"

Kagome gasped, then she was thrown into fit of giggles, "Oh my gods!!" Then she giggled some more leaning onto her companion's shoulder for support, and then Inuyasha gradually started laughing too at the absurdity of it all. 'Sango better give me all the gory details,' she thought privately, 'Or I'm going to kill her.'

The wind softly disturbed the slender leaves if the great tree. The dark green foliage laden with its lavender blossoms swayed back and forth against the royal blue of the night sky.

Kagome sighed and closed her silver-blue eyes. No wonder Inuyasha was always in a tree; they were quite peaceful.

The inuyoukai leaned against the tree's brown trunk. The branch on which she stood was so thick that it could have easily held three other people along with her and still feel no burden.

This was one of the things that she loved about the Sengoku Jidai; the landscape was untouched and un-ruined by human hands, and the trees were allowed to grow and grow. Trees so ancient they whispered their stories when the breeze brushed against them. You just had to listen.

Kagome was alone, but not for long. Inuyasha's scent reached her just before he did.

She opened her eyes to see him standing some feet away from her on the branch.

"Oi." he said, his hair catching the moonlight, and his clothes dark red in the night.

"Oi." Kagome echoed.

He walked over to her, the casually took up a place beside her, leaning on the wrinkly bark of the tree trunk. "Samishi?" lonely 

"Yeah, a little." Kagome replied, turning her head toward, her dark hair a cushion against the abrasive wood.

She smiled slightly, he smiled slightly back, but then he looked ahead to the long stretch of branch in front of then. Kagome mirrored his actions, having nothing else to do.

Seconds passed in silence.

Then a shadow of regret passed over Kagome's face, and it was so dark that the sadness in her eyes was visible in the even in the present darkness of night. She looked down to avoid Inuyasha's eyes. "Something's wrong, Inuyasha."

As she had anticipated, he looked at her. "What do you mean?" his voice was movingly calm.

"I mean…" Kagome searched for the right words and looked up to the night sky as if the blue curtain would supply them. "Something's coming…something's going to happen…" Her eyelids lowered slightly as if threatening the unknown fear itself. "…Something bad."

The wind blew gently once more…

"…So you feel it too" was Inuyasha's unexpected, yet stoic reply, as his eyes fixed on the branch below him.

Kagome didn't look at him; for some reason that made her sad. "Then you knew?" Kagome asked quietly. The night gale stirred her locks of hair gently.

The boy sighed exasperatedly and pushed himself off the tree trunk; away from Kagome's side.

She watched him with hurt eyes he walked out across the thick branch, perhaps trying to get away. He sighed again and stopped walking to slowly come to face with the night sky, barely visible with the many leaves in the tree in which they were standing. "Yeah" he answered.

Kagome blinked, trying to remain indifferent. "Since when?"

"Since…" his reply was lost for a moment.

She saw his countenance relax slightly. Then he looked at her sideways, his eyes were smiling softly. "Ever since before…that night when…when I tried to get you to leave."

'The night I learned the truth' Kagome's mind added. She met his eyes and nodded once.

Temporarily, she decided to answer the burning question in her mind. For some reason it took a toll on her body, and she slid down to sit down on the branch. She let her legs dangled playfully off its side as she stared down to the ground far below her fearlessly. "Inuyasha…why did you give up your plan that night?"

He smiled nostalgically without really meaning to. "Well, I actually started out trying to _finish_ it that night."

Her head snapped towards him in confusion. In reply he walked to her side and joined her, sitting on the branch also. "I wanted you to leave that night because this threat that you have just sensed has been haunting me for awhile." He looked down to his bare feet as he continued. "I wanted you to be gone before it hit."

The inu-oni titled his head up and out towards the heavens, "Guess it all was worthless in the end…"

Kagome didn't try to deny that, "But why did you give up?" she pursed, not looking at him.

Her ears more than easily picked up his deep sigh. Without even looking at him see knew he had closed his eyes to try and block the pain.

Inuyasha opened them. "Kagome, I want to protect you, I want to you be safe…" Suddenly his sadness broke with a light laugh, one that made her look at him curiously. "I didn't know why when I first met you…but I know why now…"

He looked down at his lap again and spoke softly, "You only protect the things you cherish…"

Kagome smiled lovingly.

"And…" Inuyasha continued, "When Naraku was dead I guess I decided that if you didn't have to stay here, then you shouldn't risk your life needlessly, but you would never say that yourself, so I…" he broke off.

The half-demon boy didn't need to explain the next part for Kagome to understand– it was when he decided to get her to hate him…

His painful silence broke. "Little did I know, you like being here. I always thought you thought of coming as here as a burden, something you had to do in order to get it over with…"

"I did at first," Kagome confessed. He looked at her over his shoulder. "But…" She scooted closer to him, "Things grow on you".

His golden eyes locked with her blue ones, "Just because something grows on you doesn't make it any better," he pointed out legitimately.

Kagome smiled warmly. "This is different."

Inuyasha looked away. Then he felt her arms slip around his idle one as she embraced him. "I promise this is different." she whispered.

He gave in to trusting her. Inuyasha rested his head on hers, which was leaning on his shoulder.

…It hurts to always have to be honest with the one that you love –Brand New…

"Hey, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked placidly. She pulled away slightly to look into his face.

"Nani?"

"Didn't you consider the fact that I could learn to fight with this?" The girl extended a clawed hand in front of both of them as an example of her hanyou powers. "Then you wouldn't have to protect me as much…"

"Yes, I did…" he explained. "But…I thought that if you eventually purified the jewel then you would use it to change back into a normal human."

Kagome leaned on his shoulder once more. "I see… but, you know, even if that was possible, I wouldn't change back".

One of the kawaii white ears on his head twitched, his eyes were disbelieving as they fell into hers. "Why not?"

"Because." she smiled weakly and avoided his gaze by looking out into the night, "Ever since I discovered this place I haven't really felt like myself…"

He was about to ask what she meant when she answered him. "Almost everyone says I'm Kikyo the first time they see me…I know I'm not, but after awhile it started to get hard to deny…but now…I feel…whole, as if this change has made me more…me"

Inuyasha continued to stare at her while she spilled her guts, "I mean, I don't look like her that much anymore, and a demon can't exactly be a miko can she? I feel…like I've got my own soul…or something."

She looked down, suddenly blushing slightly. "Sorry, I'm not making any sense…"

Inuyasha shook his head. "Iie, you're making perfect sense, the way your body is _does_ have an effect on your soul…"

Spontaneously possessed by guilt he pulled her closer. She held him back.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel inferior to her, Kagome…I don't think that way, I've never thought that way…I hope you know that." He whispered, filled with emotion.

She didn't reply but held him tighter, and that was better than words. After a long while she allowed her eyes to close. "Inuyasha" she whispered "This thing that we've been fearing, I think I know what it is…"

He buried his face in her dark, soft hair. "Please don't say it…" he begged in a whisper.

Owari Chapter Nijū

Amehana's note: sigh despite my terribly busy schedule I've been writing a lot lately, and it's so nice. I love writing, it's the bestest!

My story got deleted! DELETED! Why? Why would anyone do this to me? I am going to take an optimistic stance on this & say it was because of technical difficulties or the fact that I hadn't updated in a long time. I lost my beautiful summary & was forced to rewrite it but I do believe I've got everything else. I hope all my adoring fans will come running back to me and forgive me for neglecting my story. I love you all!

I suppose then, I have nothing else to say except this:

Review or you will be fangoriusly devoured by a gelatinous monster!


	22. Worse Than Death

Amehana: I saw Medea, the Greek Tragedy, today (live, not the horrible movie version), and it was so cool. The moral of the story, don't make women mad, hell ya! And anyway, it has gotten me into a wonderfully dark mood. So hopefully, it'll help me write this, because I've been putting it off for forever…

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha ™ although I wish I could…nothing is cool.

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" –Voldemort

"You are quiet wrong…Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness." –Dumbledore, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_

Chapter XXI–Worse Than Death

In deepness of sleep something agitated his keen senses. The tip of one of his white inu ears twitched, and the half-demon stirred awake.

Slowly he blinked his golden eyes open, he having no idea why he had awoken in the middle of this still night.

But at sighting the girl sleeping undisturbed next to him, the inuyoukai completely forgot about his situational confusion.

Inuyasha smiled very slightly at Kagome. Her dark hair was fanned out all around her on the white sheets as she lay slumbering on her back. He watched her sleeping and the way her chest moved up and down as she breathed steadily, simply satisfied with that.

They had stayed up late that night, talking in Inuyasha's room in between Kagome's highs and lows with her studies. Sometimes she would work continuously, without allowing herself to be disturbed. Then other times she would give up, frustrated, and talk to him. It was a much-needed excuse not to pick the dusty scrolls again.

Somehow they had fallen asleep, side by side. He didn't know how, but he certainly wasn't complaining.

In the darkness he allowed his eyes to travel down the waves of her curvaceous body, then back up to her face.

He smiled again and set his chin on top of his folded arms. After just staring at her for many moments he reached out and lovingly caressed her cheek.

She stirred slightly smiling in her sleep, then fell back into slumber's warmth.

Inuyasha wondered if she knew how precious she was to him. The demon watched the girl he adored sleeping peacefully, her body illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the closed rice paper doors…

Wait a second,

Moonlight?

The first night of the new moon had been just days ago, so the moon' shining light wouldn't be back in the sky for a week, at least.

Suddenly he remembered that his instincts had shaken him awake in the dead of night.

Driven by something unknown force Inuyasha stood and walked to the back door. Compelled, he grabbed his reliable Tetsusaiga and strapped it to its proper place on his waist.

Quickly he stepped outside. His eyes widened.

He had been right, no moon tonight.

There _was_ another source of light in the night, but it wasn't that of the usual tranquil sliver orb, but something one would be much more loathed to see at any time of the day. (A/N: Because they're creepy!).

The scene in front of him was surreal, even for him; there they were, all around him, they're serpent heads, fish fins, spider legs, and long, white, wispy, paint-brush-stroke bodies ubiquitous against the blackness of dark, singing their eerie song as they few on, unstoppable, in the suicidal missions they always seemed to be delegated to…

Soul stealing demons. Shindamachi. Unmistakably, the breed Kikyo used to do her corrupt bidding.

Something stirred quietly inside him, brushing against his conscious, and somehow he knew who they were after: Kagome.

A horrible mix of emotions suddenly seized the hanyou. If this had been months ago, he wouldn't have known what to do. If he hadn't realized what his ex-love had truly done to him those decades ago, he would have been standing, indecisive, at the crossroads. If he didn't now know that Kagome loved him for what he was with all her heart, then this would have been an emotion-ripping ordeal that he would to face. One that held enemies and allies on both sides. Damn good thing that that wasn't the current situation.

He growled deeply and took a fighting stance, just before unsheathing his sword and springing at the nearest demon.

Easily he cu it down, but their strength, as usual, was in numbers. There was no way he could defeat all of the things with them multiplying so.

They continued to fall at his hands, but kept on coming unfazed. His burning golden eyes fixed on the dark forest from which they were flying. There was only one thing to do. Go directly to the source. And no matter how much that knowledge shook his conscience, that is exactly what he did.

Kagome rolled over, her half-unconscious mind searching for warmth. She whimpered softly when her desire wasn't met. Then suddenly her senses sharpened to the way they were when she was aware of her actions.

She gasped and woke up, opening her eyes, startled at something. Her eyes then got dark when she saw that the bed beside her was empty; no wonder she was cold, Inuyasha's body was always so warm…

The demoness sat up and looked around. He wasn't anywhere. Confused, the girl stood and walked outside.

She screamed. A soul stealer had come out of nowhere and charged her. Just in time she dodged to the side. Her fighting instincts took over.

Four came towards her at once, as if they had been sent from the cardinal directions of the earth. The only way she could avoid them was flinging herself backwards and up into the air, her back shaping her body into a flip. In mid-air, upside down, she pressed her palm into the grass and spun herself to balance, then perfectly landed upright.

Claws ready, she jumped forward and easily chopped a few demons on half as they came at her; they fell to the ground with their white bodies dissolving.

They seemed so consummate that she almost couldn't keep up with them; the demons kept flying at her from all directions ready to burrow through her chest and extract her soul. Over and over again she destroyed them a spilt second before it was too late.

She swiped at one on her left and it easily disintegrated, but she didn't see the one in front of her until it was too late.

The thing flew faster than the speed of light and she couldn't stop it this time, her body readied itself to scream and take in the impact…but it never came.

Kagome opened her eyes, and in front of her was a golden rod shining as it sliced through the alternate light of the soul-snatcher's body like the savior it was. The staff jingled when its holder pulled it back to his side so that he could swing it again.

"Miroku-sama" Kagome breathed, looking gratefully at the person whom had just saved her life. She felt like hugging him as he smiled and said: "Don't mention it"

The half-demon suddenly saw that she wasn't alone. The monk at her side moved to execute another demon with the holy power in his staff, Shippo was burning them with bursts of his blue fox fire, Kirara had transformed and was effortlessly tearing them apart with her claws and teeth, and Sango was mercilessly slicing them into sections with her katana.

Kagome would have smiled, save for the soul stealer hurtled itself at her and reminded her that she was in battle. A swipe of her sharp claws and it was gone. But something wasn't right.

Instantly Kagome realized what it was; all the demons were targeting _her_, no one else. Her friends were keeping them at bay, but they kept coming. She needed to destroy them at a long range.

Quickly as her feet would carry her she dashed back inside the house, grabbed her bow, and slung her quiver over her shoulder.

Back outside, Kagome ducked out of the path of the closest charging demon, then with lightning reflexes she nocked an arrow on her bow, took quick aim, and shot.

The inu-oni couldn't stop herself from smiling when the purity arrow went straight through a demon's body then lodged itself in another. They both fell to the ground; mouths open as if in shock, their naturally purple blood streaming from their wounds.

But taking them out with arrows one by one was too slow, and there were too many demons. Not to mention the fact that Kagome felt that it was all her fault that they were there.

This time she pulled out two arrows, and turned her bow horizontally. The string hummed and shook in anticipation as the miko drew it back at full length. Kagome whispered an inaudible chant in ancient Japanese that had been stored in her memory from all her priestess training. She let the arrows fly.

As always each arrow lit up in a brilliant, proud, white light thanks to the life energy Kagome had seeped into them, and the arrows flew straight through their targets. But unlike always, the arrows didn't stop there. Gracefully they curved outward from one another, each one taking a different side and shooting through demon after demon, until the ground was littered with their bodies.

At the sudden lack of enemies, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Miroku all turned around to give Kagome a sincere "We are very impressed" look as she smiled and caught each arrow in a hand and placed them back in her quiver when they returned to her, having fulfilled their task.

But our heroes did not have much time to celebrate.

Unhindered, the demons that had astonishingly avoided Kagome's take-no-prisoners arrows were suddenly joined with more as they came flying out of the dark woods, their long tails trailing behind them.

But it seemed that something inside their miniscule brains shifted their actions from plan A to plan B. The Sindamachi simply stopped attacking, and hovered eerily in the air as if awaiting orders, then all of them charged headstrong into the woods from which they had came.

The protagonists exchanged confused glances, and then suddenly they heard an earth-shaking groan, followed by an ear-splitting crash.

Sango, Miroku and Kirara opened their worried eyes after dodging to safety to see Shippo clutching Kagome as she held him in her arms after saving from the huge falling tree.

The second after Shippo regained himself and backed away from the shelter of Kagome's embrace to thank her, yet another tree fell, and then another, repeating the horror.

Dust and debris cleared so that the team could see that the demons were winding their long bodies around the trunks of the trees, then swimming away, and in reaction to their suspicious spells the tree would just give up and fall…

The soul-stealers were destroying Inuyasha's Forest!

Suddenly, destroying the demons was not the object anymore; it was dodging the colossal trees as they died, crashing to the ground below them.

"Where is Inuyasha?!?" Sango yelled over the endless noise just before hurling her Hiraikotsu at a tree, ripping it in half so that it wouldn't crush her.

"I don't know!" Kagome yelled back in answer, jumping skillfully off a felled tree as another tree began to fall across that one. Hurt was present in her silver-blue eyes at the fact that Inuyasha was missing and loud clues of Kikyo were everywhere.

Sango didn't say any more.

Miroku picked up the conversation from somewhere amongst the confusion. "We can't keep this up for long, we have to find Kikyo!"

Kagome landed on the ground of the diminishing forest, her head bowed. 'Do we really?'

In the inside she knew it was true, but that didn't hinder the fact that she was afraid, deathly afraid, of what would happen when they found the walking-dead priestess…what _would_ happen? Would Inuyasha be there with her?

The youkai squeezed her eyes shut to stop her tears, and clenched her fist. If he had betrayed her, then…then…well, she didn't know what she would do.

But she did know her duty. She had to protect the village and its people. She had to stop the Shindamachi from bringing down the innocent forest. She had to end this so that her friends wouldn't be in danger. And…deep down inside she knew…she knew she had to know the bare truth.

She couldn't do it. She had to do it. It was impossible. It was necessary. The truth would kill her, but…then again, it could also set her free.

She pushed her emotions aside, and concentrated despite the chaos all around her. After a second of searching she had caught the information she needed with her senses.

"Into the forest!" she yelled, suddenly alert, "Keep north!"

She ran into the woods, dodging trees as they continued to fall all around her, she only focused on one thing: getting through this ordeal step by step. Going forward in her thoughts to what would happen when they actually reached their destination was too painful.

The demoness didn't have to look behind her to know that her four friends were following her into a battle that they didn't have to commit themselves to; she knew their scents. So she went on blindly, avoiding the collisions as the world literally came crashing down around her.

Maybe it took many hours for the team to reach their stopping point, but maybe it was only a short while. They didn't exactly know. Kagome was too deep in trying not to think about the immediate future, and the others were too concerned with the welfare of the aforesaid.

But before they knew it they had come upon a wall in the middle of the forest. It went from the soft earth to the tops of the tall trees, which could not be seen. The wall was a dark, deep blue color, and it was spider-webbed with a lighter blue. It swirled there innocently as Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kirara stared at it, contemplating what to do next.

The hanyou among them was the first to step up to it. Cautiously, but with determination in her eyes, Kagome brushed it with the tips of her fingers.

They all spun around. The sound of the crashing trees near them and in the distance had been stopped just when Kagome had touched the wall of chi.

"So it's a trap." Kagome said calmly turning back to the obstruction. This whole ordeal had been carefully planned out.

A few feet away from her Miroku nodded. "Hai, but the only thing we can do now is walk right into this trap."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Right." Kagome stated. "Everyone get ready, on the count of three we go in. Got it?"

She met eyes with each one of them to make sure they understood. Then she readied her clawed hands at her sides.

Miroku held his staff before him ready to swing it if the time came. Sango held her bone boomerang above her head in anticipation, Kirara growled softly and bent down on her front legs ready to spring into action, and Shippo summoned a hearty flame of foxfire in each of his hands.

"Ready?" Kagome said, focusing on the wall in front of her. It wasn't exactly a question.

"Ichi…

Ni…

San!"

In prefect unison they charged headfirst into the wall, only to be separated…

Kagome stumbled forward. Slowly she lowered her arms out of their protective position back to her sides, so that she could use them to fight.

But instead of finding Kikyo (and Inuyasha) as she had expected, nothing to trigger that sort of arousal happened. The girl straightened herself up out of her fighting stance. What was going on?

The scene around her was…calm, quiet, a lush forest with trees everywhere. This was _Inuyahsa's_ forest! The forest she had just been in. The forest on the other side of the wall…so it was simply a barrier, not a portal or anything? Interesting, but not so interesting that it could drastically change things, she supposed. Kagome truly had had no idea what she was getting into when she has burst through that field of blocking energy. But, if it was a barrier, then why had she and everyone else stepped through it so easily?

'Wait- where is everybody?!' Kagome shrieked silently. She looked around her quickly, only to find that the party she had entered with had completely vanished.

'How?' was the only thing that registered in the mess of questions and worries that was her thoughts. But she did not have much time to let her thoughts settle, for a cry suddenly shattered the silence.

Breaking the intolerable stillness, Kagome ran towards it recklessly. Her body charged forward without the consent of her mind, ahead of her she could see a clearing, a strange light coming in breaks trough the trees. She was getting closer and closer, until she burst through the trees, driven by only-the-gods-know what.

But something terrible happened once inside. Kagome's hands suddenly flew to her ears on top of her head, her eyes shut, and her teeth clenched together, she sunk to the ground in agony in one slow, liquid motion.

Something about that place had an affect her body, an affect on her demonic instincts. Screams, thousands and thousands of heart-wrenching screams rung in her sensitive ears unsympathetically and without stop. Screams of thousands of trapped souls crying piteously for release, and one, one single cry for peace could be heard somehow in the masses.

It hurt her ears so much that the pain shot down across her jawbone and made her dizzy.

Then a cold, hard, snake-like thing wrapped tightly around Kagome's wrist, and ruthlessly it pulled on it lifted her helpless body into the air by only her arm. Her weapons dropped to the ground.

Kagome gasped for breath, and forced her eyes to open, it took a moment for the blurriness to cease.

"Leave her alone." she heard a voice demand harshly, "This doesn't concern her!" the speakers commands were doused in anger but truly hiding unrelinquished worry. Inuyasha's voice.

He _was_ here.

"But this concerns _her_ more than it concerns you, my dear Inuyasha…" a smooth female voice answered, and Kagome didn't need any of her senses to tell her who it was.

The thing that had her by the arm dropped Kagome to her shaky feet, but before she collapsed a strong arm wrapped around her waist. The girl's eyes slowly focused.

She saw Inuyasha at her side; he was holding her with one arm, the other had Tesusaiga. Yes, he was there, but, to the miko's great relief, it wasn't for the haunting reason she had conjured in her head.

His clothes had cuts all over them as if the fire-rat hair that had weaved it had been no more than common cotton. Sweat was beading off his forehead. Burn marks had blackened parts of his skin. He was covered in so much blood that his skin was more crimson than its normal peachy color.

He was weak; he had been fighting. 'Fighting Kikyo' her mind pointed out. How was he standing Kikyo's presence? Or, was it not affecting him the way it was her?

Inuyasha turned his head sideways towards Kagome, keeping one eye on Kikyo. "Stand up." he whispered.

Kagome closed her eyes and nodded. If she could only subdue the feeling that made her feel like she was going to throw up, she could fight at his side.

She swallowed and pushed herself out of the safety of his arm, so that she could support herself. Slowly her demonic senses ceased their tantrum.

Kagome finally looked in front of her, to Kikyo. The pale being was standing tall and proud, not a scratch on her, but her usually tame hair had come out of its ribbon, it looked free and wild in a creepy way. Kikyo looked like a ghost, her near-white form in contrast against the dark clearing around them.

Kikyo walked gracefully toward Kagome, around her, her Soul Stealers painted their bodies across the air. "Why are you here?" Kikyo asked.

Kagome just stared back her, no longer delirious but alert, and perfectly aware of her situation. She had forced herself to ignore the strange fatigue that had taken over her body. "I should be asking you that same question".

"Oh really?" Kikyo said with a disgusting fake sweetness in her voice. "I am simply wondering how you avoided my spell…"

Kagome found herself glaring at the zombie in front of her. "What spell?" She growled acidly.

Kikyo didn't answer straightly, "I underestimated you I suppose, but that's no matter…I was thinking of disposing of you along with your little friends but this is _much_ better…"

_Your little friends_ echoed in Kagome's mind. Her eyes widened, the others! "Where are they? What have you done with them?" She cried.

Kikyo smiled cruelly. "They are fortunate; they will simply wonder in darkness until they are driven insane, but you two" her eyes, void of any emotion, scanned over both half-demons, then back to Kagome, "Will die much more painful deaths."

Kagome took a step backward, her eyes wide and shocked. "You're insane." she breathed.

Kikyo smiled. Years of wondering the earth as a soulless wraith had finally broken her, driven what was left of her former self into silence, so that the only thing left in her was pure hatred. All that was left was endless hatred for the one that killed her (A/N: not), and the one that replaced her (A/N: not). She was unstoppable, and she liked it that way. She liked this false afterlife better than the life she had led when she was alive.

"That may be true, little girl, but I am also the one with all the power here." Kikyo said, then she elegantly raised her arms in front her, and in the blink of an eye she had slammed Kagome against a tree.

"Leave her out of this, now!" Inuyasha yelled, glued to his spot for reasons that he couldn't produce.

Kikyo laughed, "Why should I? It's her fault, what happened to us is all her fault. It's also her fault that she's here…or are _you_ to blame for that, Inuyasha?" Kikyo asked, looking at him with mocking sympathy.

His eyes narrowed in a glare, the demon's keen ears sensed Kagome standing to her feet behind him.

Inuyasha pointed Tetsusaiga threateningly at the undead miko in front of him. "You should have left Kagome alone, Kikyo, but you didn't. This is the end, go back to Hell where you belong."

Kagome watched him with wide eyes. He was serious.

In reply, Kikyo smiled her hollow smile. "Is that so? How do you intend to carry out that promise? I can see that you care about her, very interesting…" she trailed off for a moment, looking at the hanyou girl behind the enemy. "That you would choose a copy over the real thing"

That broke the dam of anger and hatred that had been buried somewhere deep inside the boy. "Don't say that!" he yelled acidly at the top of his lungs. "Don't you ever say that!"

In one blinding move Inuyasha's eyes located the rip in the mix of his demonic aura and Kikyo demon-like one. With all his force he skillfully swung his sword and attacked Kikyo with the Kaze No Kizu. Light flooded the scene.

Kagome blinked and lowered her arms away from her face as quickly as possible so that she could see the outcome of Inuyasha's attack. There was a long, deep cut in the smoking earth that stretched between where Inuyasha stood and where Kikyo stood.

He was gasping for breath; the attack had pulled chi out of him. Kikyo was standing opposite him, only about six feet away. She was staring at the gaping wound that went from her right shoulder down her chest at a diagonal that cut across where her heart should be, to her left side. She was shocked at the blood that was beginning to dye her ironically white priestess kimono a dark crimson.

The miko just continued to stare at her affliction, frozen, then hatred burned in her eyes, and all she wanted was payback.

Kikyo raised one hand in front of her, her palm facing Inuyasha and Kagome. A sphere appeared at her hand. The light of her deep red chi illuminated her ghost-like features, and made the clearing around her look like it had been drenched in blood.

Inuyasha saw the ball of energy reflecting in Kikyo's eyes, burning like the fires of Hell before she let loose her attack.

Thousands, millions even, of crimson colored blades suddenly came screaming at the two half-demons from Kikyo's hands.

Inuyasha dashed to Kagome just as she sunk to the ground from being hit mercilessly by the razor sharp energy. He wrapped his arms around her protectively, and was glad to feel the sting of the blades because he knew that they were hitting him instead of her.

This gesture of love only made Kikyo angrier, and driven by her emotions, her attack mounted.

Kagome and Inuyasha heard Kikyo's cruel voice yelling into the red chaos. "Is it worth it, Inuyasha, all of this? You trust her, don't you?!" her voice was demanding answers in screams. "Stupid boy, you trusted me once and look where that got you, I have come back from the dead when you thought you were rid of me. And since Naraku didn't kill you two off _properly_ like we had planned, I'll have to do it myself!"

Kagome felt Inuyasha hold her tighter; she could somehow tell that Inuyasha already knew all that Kikyo was telling him. He had known it for a long time.

The girl's thoughts were cut short. Her eyes shot open as her miko senses grabbed her and told her that Kikyo was going to put everything into a final blow, she was going to end it. She was going to kill Inuyasha.

'He protected you, now you protect him' her mind commanded. If it could take a physical form it would've taken her by the shoulders and shaken her.

Kagome pushed Inuyasha away from her. She swiveled to her knees in front of him.

Then there was a blinding burst of white light.

Inuyasha's eyes blinked open and cleared just in time to see the after-blast of Kikyo's attack dying away at Kagome's flat, open palm.

She was in front of him, her breathing was not coming easily, and sweat had drenched her entire body. Kagome's eyes lowered involuntarily. Her extended arm fell, exhausted to her side. She sighed and her head dropped forward.

Inuyasha wanted to help her…but he couldn't move. Kagome had nullified Kikyo's attack, just stopped it. Just like that. It was out of place, considering the situation, but his thoughts suddenly raced backwards three years and in his mind he saw the smiling, timid girl that he had surely underestimated.

Kikyo shook her head disapprovingly at the Kagome. "You are not very wise; keep using your energy as a shield like that and you'll die."

"So be it…" Kagome whispered, her voice was just audible.

Kikyo looked disgusted. "It would be worthless for you to die protecting the half-breed…because I'd drag him to Hell with me, in the end."

Kagome forced her head up so that her tired eyes met Kikyo's hollow ones. "So take me instead." She said, breathless but firm.

Behind her, Inuyasha unexpectedly found his voice. "What the fuck are you saying?!" he yelled at the girl.

But the addressed simply ignored him. Then Kikyo indiscriminately narrowed her eyes into a stabbing glare.

Kagome screamed as red chains of ki came out of nowhere and twisted themselves around her wrists and ankles. They yanked her exhausted body out of its spent state. Her body recoiled as if trying to get away when more knifes of chi aimed directly at her in uncountable numbers sliced her skin and clothes.

The attack itself screamed as it seared Kagome so loudly that she barley heard when Inuyasha cried out her name. She didn't even sense it when he jumped up from the ground to help her only to be shot down himself.

Finally after what seemed an eternity of pain the chains released the hanyou girl and dropped her without pity. Her eyes were so empty as they fell closed.

For many moments while Kagome lay on the ground, her and Inuyasha grouping in darkness for strength to get up and do _something_.

Kagome thought she would just die right then and there. She turned her head to where Inuyasha had temporarily fallen; if she was going to die she was going to tell him that she loved him one last time…

Somehow the inuyoukai boy saw the weakness in his love's eyes. His own then narrowed in anger; there was no way in all the seven hells that he was going to let her die! Inuyasha stood and faced Kikyo with his Tetsusaiga in front of him, ready to fight.

"You'll be sorry for hurting her, Kikyo" he growled to an indifferent opponent.

Kagome watched him. He was fighting for her, against _Kikyo_. Not to mention he looked worse than she felt.

Suddenly, suddenly something came over her. Her short breaths stopped as if she hadn't been fighting; she could breath properly once more. She couldn't feel the blood and burn marks her anymore, although she knew it was impossible that they were gone. Suddenly energy returned to her limbs.

The young miko got to one knee, and then the other, and then she stood slowly, kind of majestically, actually. Inuyasha watched, eyes wide in surprise, as Kagome easily rose after being bombarded with such an attack, before he could even counter Kikyo.

Kagome stared at Kikyo, who seemed surprised that she was even still alive, unflinchingly. "Stop this." her voice was soft and strong at the same time.

Kikyo actually looked confused for a second, but that quickly changed to rage.

Kagome never let her eyes leave Kikyo's. In a split second the world around them shifted, and then its dark aura fell away. A pale white wind swept across the clearing and beyond to the forest like a wave, washing the evil away, and the radius of this blast was Kagome herself. It was a mystery how, but undoubtedly Kagome had broken Kikyo's spell. Far away from them the dark blue barrier wall shattered.

Inuyasha's head snapped to his right when Sango, Miroku and Shippo came out of the black woods. They looked around, wondering what the heck was going on. The demon looked back to Kagome, who seemed like she hadn't even noticed that she had freed her friends.

"For too long you have wondered this earth, stealing innocent souls and just making people miserable." Kagome's eyes were now burning, burning with a hatred that was so unlike them. Her voice was gaining strength until she was yelling.

"But no longer!" she finished. It was as if something deep inside had reached the surface and was now taking over the girls every action.

Kikyo didn't look fazed, but it was very likely that was not the way she truly felt. She looked at the younger miko skeptically. "And what will you do, girl? Kill me?"

"Iie," Kagome answered, a haze of blue light flickering at her hands, "Death is too good for you."

Kikyo didn't get an explanation of her reincarnates' words, as what came next happened too quickly. Kagome raised her arms toward her with lighting speed and in a flash Kikyo was forced back and into a tree by a light blue wave with the force of a hurricane.

The priestess tried with all her strength in her dead body but it wasn't enough; she could barely move. Through the blaze she saw Kagome walking towards her. The girl was covered in red blood and blackened burn marks that Kikyo had given her with satisfaction. Her dark black hair –not much like Kikyo's anymore, she realized– and kimono were blowing in winds from her own attack.

The younger girl walked forward, and as if on an impulse, lightly placed her clawed hands on either sides of Kikyo's cold face. She looked deep into her opposite's emotionless eyes.

"Come on, Kikyo, its time to rest, now you can be in peace." She said, her voice in reconcile as if she was soothing a frightened child, her eyes kind. But Kagome was not talking to the body of earth and bones (not to mention stolen souls) in the shape of a once great priestess facing her. She was looking past that. The youkai was talking to the original soul, the one part not tainted with hate– the soul trapped within.

Kagome closed her eyes for a short moment, and then backed away from the pinned priestess. She was about to release her, as she now had the upper hand in the fight and everything was under control. Everything would be okay…

And then, suddenly there was nothing.

White.

That was it. Nothing else. No aura's, no sounds, no texture, no shadows, nothing. Just white.

That was only way Kagome could describe her surroundings.

The girl blinked hazel eyes. What had happened? Was she dead?

Kagome stood still in her spot in this barren wasteland of nothingness. Then, as if someone had pointed out something to her, she gasped. Her claws were gone.

The girl stumbled back a little, staring at her right hand, and then she tore her eyes from that one to her left. Quickly she tired to sense something that was under the authorization of her demonic senses, like scent.

Nothing.

It was apparent. Her youkai blood was gone; she was full human.

Then –as if she didn't already have enough problems already– the world around turned to revel another being within this strange dimension. The scene unraveled as if the girl was in a movie and the camera had spun around her shoulder to put the other person into the shot. Kagome hadn't moved but Kikyo was suddenly right there in front of her.

Kagome surprised herself when she heard herself speaking with calmness in her voice. "You don't like them, do you?" was the first thing she said.

"Demons, you don't like them at all, any of them…" she added to her vague sentence.

Kikyo simply stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. The woman's face, clothes, and skin were no longer battle scarred, and if Kagome had examined her own body she would have found that true for herself also. Then finally she looked away, breaking their eye contact. "No."

The younger miko didn't reply, nor did she have time to. Kikyo's haunting eyes shot back to hers'. "And why should I?" she pointed out. "My entire life was devoted to defending the Shikon No Tama from the youkai…why should I feel anything towards any of them."

Hot red anger flared inside Kagome, she clenched her fists. "I have picked up the same task you had where you left it and _I_ don't feel any hatred towards demons!"

Kikyo remained calm, of course. She looked at her incarnate squarely, "Then I was mistaken…"

Kagome stopped her course of bitterness and blinked, looking at her predecessor, waiting for a reply.

"You are not like me." Kikyo finished.

For the first time ever, Kagome agreed with her. Kikyo was defending her against all those who had ever proclaimed that she was simply a copy. For the first time ever, Kagome felt something like…compassion towards this person.

She softened, and without her consent her hand went over her heart. "But what about Inuyasha? All that time, so long ago were you just us–"

"Yes." Kikyo interrupted, her eyes meeting Kagome's in a spilt second. Yes was the answer to an unstated point: Yes, she had even harbored a loathing for youkai when a potential relationship had played out between Inuyasha and herself.

Kagome's eyes widened for a split second. Here, in this eerie place, Kikyo could read her thoughts.

Once again the girl let her anger dissolve, but she had no more to say. And that was all right, because the other spoke first. "He loves you."

There was no need to explain who "He" was. Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat. "You can see that?"

Kikyo nodded, and it surprised Kagome to see that there was no emotion in her eyes, not hate or reluctance– perhaps she was so far gone that her driving intent had been lost in the struggle for victory.

Without knowing what else to do, Kagome looked down, her all-black hair fell in strands over her face. "Kikyo" she said, attaining the addressee's attention without looking up, "Please…tell me what is you… _want_"

The undead woman's silence was so still that it made Kagome look up and meet her chilling eyes.

"There are things that divide us, and there are also things that connect us." Kikyo said, and the way she never let any emotion flicker across her face was eerie. Was she stopping her inner feelings from exposing themselves, or were they just not being felt at all?

Kikyo looked away slowly, as if trying to study the scene around them, but there was nothing to study. "My soul, the soul that now harbors in your body wants peace…but I, without it, want nothing more than to continue." The truth in her voice could sting.

So the undead Kikyo wanted to stay on her path of blood and deceit.

The priestess waited for the girl's returning statement, but there was none. So she looked into Kagome's eyes; they were suppressing an outburst of rage.

"Then I hope that your soul rests in peace." was Kagome's lone, straightforward commentary.

Somewhere deep in Kagome's mind a voice said, "Enough of this." and as if she had the power to control the plane, then white world washed away.

Kagome found herself once again standing in the clearing, her half-demon self was back, but so was the pain from her wounds.

She saw Inuyasha push himself off the ground out of her peripheral vision, then in front her she saw Kikyo –or Kikyo's body, rather– being released from the tree that Kagome's attack had pressed her against.

The blood-streaked priestess' eyes moved to look around. She saw that it was over; she had been defeated. As quickly as her feet would take her, in the safety of the few precious seconds that ticked before any of her enemies could get a hold on the situation, she left the clearing.

The undead one tried summoning her soul-stealers with the silent calls in her mind, but none came. Then she felt anger burning inside of her. When that "little girl" had released her, she had somehow used her amateur powers to take away Kikyo's gift of spirit snatching. But the hanyou girl had done something much more devastating. She had regained the last bit of Kikyo's true soul into her own body.

It was over, she felt it in every inch of her ash-and-dirt body. And slowly, she descended into the forest and vanished into the darkness.

Back in the clearing in which the fight had taken place, Sango drew a blade from one of the hidden places in her slayer's uniform and started to follow in the direction Kikyo had fled.

But she had only taken a few steps when Miroku gently wrapped his hand around her arm.

She turned to look at him. "She's going to get away!" she barked at the man she loved.

He looked straight into her brown eyes with his blue ones. "Then let her."

The huntress paused for his explanation. It came as he let go of her hand and looked into deep woods that had swallowed up Kikyo's image. The many years of priesthood had taught him many things about spells and how to recognize them, so he knew what Kagome had done as though reading it from a book. "She would enjoy Hell" He told his crew, "And, yes, eventually she will die. But her soul-stealing days are over. She will live, dying slowly…" He looked back to Sango. "She will live to see Inuyasha and Kagome's children, should they have any, and she will live to see them happy. And then…finally she will die and go to a place where she will receive her just reward."

Sango stared at him, then back into the black forest, her battle urges broken at the monk's collected words. The girl nodded in agreement. "You're right"

The scene broke as Shippo jumped to his little feet and grabbed a now-compact Kirara in his arms, smiling from ear to ear. "We did it!" He cheered.

Sango smiled back at the kit, then replaced her dagger and allowed herself to slide into Miroku's arms to join the celebration.

"Kagome, I don't know _what_ you did exactly but it was cool!" The fox demon boy exclaimed.

But Shippo was too late; Kagome had already ran across the clearing and jumped into Inuyasha's arms. He held her tightly, spinning her around once then pressing her body to his as they kissed like there was no tomorrow and no one was there to watch.

After many moments, the hanyou couple pulled away. Kagome rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder and closed her eyes. He buried his face in her hair.

"…I thought…that it was all over…" he heard Kagome whisper in his ear.

At her words a shadow crossed his eyes, but he brushed it away quickly. For now all he wanted to do was hold her.

It felt like the victory over the Final Battle all over again, like the real enemy had finally been defeated…and maybe, that truly was the case.

Owari Chapter Nijūsan

Amehana: whoo hoo! It's over! Praise Jesus!

Okay peeps, I know that there are those who like Kikyo and well Whips cordless out of nowhere Here's a phone, go call somebody who cares!

But seriously, I. Don't. Like. Her. I try and pity her, try to see it from her view and I just…can't. This is what I believe and ♪ I can't change the way I feel, I could never do that, I could never do that…♫. I _think_ that once she was a good person, but life is hard & its demands takes their toll on people. She just went about coping with that fact in the wrong way and she hurt others while doing it, and for that, I can never forgive her.

Well that's it for tonight…actually I'm going to read through it again but anyway…REVIEW please.

Trogdor was a man, he was a dragon man…or maybe he was just a dragon…but he was still TROGDOR!!!! TROGDOR!!!! Burninating the countryside, burninating all the peasants, burninating all the people…goes on and on


End file.
